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Paintings
Imprint
Acrylic with stitches and collage on canvas, 147 x 122 cm.
The imprint of history often informs our lives as faint shadowy retentions, hybrid cultural impressions and faint echoes. In this painting a large portion of the mid ground is textured with diverse shapes and patterns suggesting fragments of memory. The occupations and lived experiences of individual express in the upper plane, as community, growth and gaiety. The thrusting red hull of a ship is now a container for the positive words of – Amie Cesaire who gave the Black world the concept of Negritude. Stitches running along the hull symbolically join us to our past, present and future, ensuring that our identity as Africans in Diaspora is not lost to those who search in diverse spheres of life.
The imprint of history often informs our lives as faint shadowy retentions, hybrid cultural impressions and faint echoes. In this painting a large portion of the mid ground is textured with diverse shapes and patterns suggesting fragments of memory. The occupations and lived experiences of individual express in the upper plane, as community, growth and gaiety. The thrusting red hull of a ship is now a container for the positive words of – Amie Cesaire who gave the Black world the concept of Negritude. Stitches running along the hull symbolically join us to our past, present and future, ensuring that our identity as Africans in Diaspora is not lost to those who search in diverse spheres of life.
Emerging
Acrylic on canvas, 127 x 122 cm.
From the roiling waves of our disrupted history, a figure emerges from within a calm centre surrounded by clear blues, greens and yellows.
The woman in a deep yellow frock leaves behind a pale shadowy figure, she is accompanied by a bird- high above her head – a symbol and guide of the healing presence of Osanyin.
From the roiling waves of our disrupted history, a figure emerges from within a calm centre surrounded by clear blues, greens and yellows.
The woman in a deep yellow frock leaves behind a pale shadowy figure, she is accompanied by a bird- high above her head – a symbol and guide of the healing presence of Osanyin.
The Witness
Acrylic with collage on canvas, 127 x 122 cm.
The solid dark shape of a ship’s hull shelters a silent hovering witness who looks out at unmistakable signs of chaos - the afterlife of the violent and traumatic past of almost four hundred years of chattel slavery.
The vast unspecified blue surrounding this dark shape is a place of possibility where change and growth happens.
The solid dark shape of a ship’s hull shelters a silent hovering witness who looks out at unmistakable signs of chaos - the afterlife of the violent and traumatic past of almost four hundred years of chattel slavery.
The vast unspecified blue surrounding this dark shape is a place of possibility where change and growth happens.
The Rupture
(Journey Series 1)
Journey Series, Acrylic with collage on canvas, 91 x 76 cm.
A length of woven kente fabric inspired the theme of Rupture.
The fabric of history, family, and community is ripped apart during the harsh and prolonged capture and enslavement of Africans.
The sharp gash on the dark ground suggests separation, something torn apart. This gash allows the blue in between the dark shapes.
Something drifts by, pulled toward the turbulent currents of the water; a deep blue shape points its way out; signs of ropes and knots appear within the confined space of this floating shape.
A length of woven kente fabric inspired the theme of Rupture.
The fabric of history, family, and community is ripped apart during the harsh and prolonged capture and enslavement of Africans.
The sharp gash on the dark ground suggests separation, something torn apart. This gash allows the blue in between the dark shapes.
Something drifts by, pulled toward the turbulent currents of the water; a deep blue shape points its way out; signs of ropes and knots appear within the confined space of this floating shape.
Return
(Journey Series 11)
Journey Series, Acrylic and collage, 91 x 76 cm.
In a profound story of memory, identity, and transformation, Praisesong for a Widow, novelist Paule Marshall, speaks through her main character Avey Johnson, of an ancestral recall. Africans arriving in chains at a landing point in the Carolinas, USA, intuited instinctively the horror which awaited their arrival in the southern plantations. It is told that the Africans, turning their backs on the land, walked into the ocean, still chained, to begin the journey of returning to their homeland.
This painting speaks to that moment of conviction when the enslaved African chose freedom by whatever means possible, knowing that their Spirits would live.
In a profound story of memory, identity, and transformation, Praisesong for a Widow, novelist Paule Marshall, speaks through her main character Avey Johnson, of an ancestral recall. Africans arriving in chains at a landing point in the Carolinas, USA, intuited instinctively the horror which awaited their arrival in the southern plantations. It is told that the Africans, turning their backs on the land, walked into the ocean, still chained, to begin the journey of returning to their homeland.
This painting speaks to that moment of conviction when the enslaved African chose freedom by whatever means possible, knowing that their Spirits would live.
Through the Needle’s Eye
(Journey Series 111)
Journey Series, Acrylic on canvas, 91 x 76 cm.
The idea of ‘Return’ to a homeland is a deep psychic imprint which many in the Diaspora may still possess.
The deep blues of this painting evoke the sense of separation and loss out of which the Caribbean we know was created.
Although hundreds have set foot on the soil of the motherland, Africa, for most the deep psychological satisfaction of return never happens. According to Professor Stuart Hall, a Jamaican who understood the profound sense of displacement which his fellow West Indians and many from the reaches of colonial empire experienced, the attempt to return through the Needle’s Eye of history was an impossibility.
Only a psychological state of reunification could be possible through cultural and ritual practices, many of which abound in the Caribbean.
The idea of ‘Return’ to a homeland is a deep psychic imprint which many in the Diaspora may still possess.
The deep blues of this painting evoke the sense of separation and loss out of which the Caribbean we know was created.
Although hundreds have set foot on the soil of the motherland, Africa, for most the deep psychological satisfaction of return never happens. According to Professor Stuart Hall, a Jamaican who understood the profound sense of displacement which his fellow West Indians and many from the reaches of colonial empire experienced, the attempt to return through the Needle’s Eye of history was an impossibility.
Only a psychological state of reunification could be possible through cultural and ritual practices, many of which abound in the Caribbean.
Homage to Rainbow Lives
Acrylic with collage on canvas, 101 x 61 cm
Past to Present
Acrylic with collage on canvas, 71 x 51 cm
Zemi and Cross
Acrylic & mixed media, 61 x 46 cm.
The intersection of vertical and horizontal elements convey to the artist a sense of balance, stability, and order.
Salmon finds shelter in these opposites, which she has modified and creatively manipulated in her process – found materials like feathers and small stones have all found a place in the order she creates. The bigger question of the cultural place of nations and people is also considered, as in the painting ‘ Zemi and Cross’. Here, the Birdman Zemi, a deity of the Taino, first nation people of this region, stands dominant, arms outstretched in front of the western cross shape.
In other evolutions, the cross engages with the concept of ‘crossroads’- a place in Yoruba cosmology where spiritual energies are at play in human decisions.
The intersection of vertical and horizontal elements convey to the artist a sense of balance, stability, and order.
Salmon finds shelter in these opposites, which she has modified and creatively manipulated in her process – found materials like feathers and small stones have all found a place in the order she creates. The bigger question of the cultural place of nations and people is also considered, as in the painting ‘ Zemi and Cross’. Here, the Birdman Zemi, a deity of the Taino, first nation people of this region, stands dominant, arms outstretched in front of the western cross shape.
In other evolutions, the cross engages with the concept of ‘crossroads’- a place in Yoruba cosmology where spiritual energies are at play in human decisions.
Three Little Birds of the Global South
Cultural Sliders series, Acrylic on canvas 41 x 30 cm.
These small paintings are as dense with paint and textures as they are with meaning and innuendos.
The “slider” makes reference to a small bite-sized edible item which is quickly consumed; likewise, in today’s culture, borrowed ideas and influences are quickly absorbed and transformed into unique products.
The artist’s imagination ranges widely and humorously from nursery rhymes to history, art, and popular culture.
There are 12 paintings in this series.
These small paintings are as dense with paint and textures as they are with meaning and innuendos.
The “slider” makes reference to a small bite-sized edible item which is quickly consumed; likewise, in today’s culture, borrowed ideas and influences are quickly absorbed and transformed into unique products.
The artist’s imagination ranges widely and humorously from nursery rhymes to history, art, and popular culture.
There are 12 paintings in this series.
Fast Food Saviour
Cultural Sliders series, Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 41 x 30 cm.
These small paintings are as dense with paint and textures as they are with meaning and innuendos.
The “slider” makes reference to a small bite-sized edible item which is quickly consumed; likewise, in today’s culture, borrowed ideas and influences are quickly absorbed and transformed into unique products.
The artist’s imagination ranges widely and humorously from nursery rhymes to history, art, and popular culture.
There are 12 paintings in this series.
These small paintings are as dense with paint and textures as they are with meaning and innuendos.
The “slider” makes reference to a small bite-sized edible item which is quickly consumed; likewise, in today’s culture, borrowed ideas and influences are quickly absorbed and transformed into unique products.
The artist’s imagination ranges widely and humorously from nursery rhymes to history, art, and popular culture.
There are 12 paintings in this series.
Rapunzel and Puss in Boots
Cultural Sliders series, Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 41 x 30 cm.
These small paintings are as dense with paint and textures as they are with meaning and innuendos.
The “slider” makes reference to a small bite-sized edible item which is quickly consumed; likewise, in today’s culture, borrowed ideas and influences are quickly absorbed and transformed into unique products.
The artist’s imagination ranges widely and humorously from nursery rhymes to history, art, and popular culture.
There are 12 paintings in this series.
These small paintings are as dense with paint and textures as they are with meaning and innuendos.
The “slider” makes reference to a small bite-sized edible item which is quickly consumed; likewise, in today’s culture, borrowed ideas and influences are quickly absorbed and transformed into unique products.
The artist’s imagination ranges widely and humorously from nursery rhymes to history, art, and popular culture.
There are 12 paintings in this series.
Dancehall D'Avignon
Cultural Sliders series, acrylic on canvas, 41 x 30 cm.
These small paintings are as dense with paint and textures as they are with meaning and innuendos.
The “slider” makes reference to a small bite-sized edible item which is quickly consumed; likewise, in today’s culture, borrowed ideas and influences are quickly absorbed and transformed into unique products.
The artist’s imagination ranges widely and humorously from nursery rhymes to history, art, and popular culture.
There are 12 paintings in this series.
These small paintings are as dense with paint and textures as they are with meaning and innuendos.
The “slider” makes reference to a small bite-sized edible item which is quickly consumed; likewise, in today’s culture, borrowed ideas and influences are quickly absorbed and transformed into unique products.
The artist’s imagination ranges widely and humorously from nursery rhymes to history, art, and popular culture.
There are 12 paintings in this series.
Bandelero
Cultural Sliders series, Acrylic on canvas, 41 x 30 cm.
These small paintings are as dense with paint and textures as they are with meaning and innuendos.
The “slider” makes reference to a small bite-sized edible item which is quickly consumed; likewise, in today’s culture, borrowed ideas and influences are quickly absorbed and transformed into unique products.
The artist’s imagination ranges widely and humorously from nursery rhymes to history, art, and popular culture.
There are 12 paintings in this series.
These small paintings are as dense with paint and textures as they are with meaning and innuendos.
The “slider” makes reference to a small bite-sized edible item which is quickly consumed; likewise, in today’s culture, borrowed ideas and influences are quickly absorbed and transformed into unique products.
The artist’s imagination ranges widely and humorously from nursery rhymes to history, art, and popular culture.
There are 12 paintings in this series.
The Gleaners
(On Homelessness)
Acrylic on paper, 61 x 46 cm.
Homelessness is an issue the world over. The Gleaners depict persons wandering the streets under half- shadows at night.
Homelessness is an issue the world over. The Gleaners depict persons wandering the streets under half- shadows at night.
Urban Camel
(On Homelessness)
Acrylic on paper, 61 x 46
cm.
Discarded supermarket carts are often reused by homeless people as an all-purpose carrier.
cm.
Discarded supermarket carts are often reused by homeless people as an all-purpose carrier.
The Trade - The Cost of Tea
(On Homelessness)
Acrylic and mixed media on paper, 61 x 46 cm.
Sugar, cotton, tobacco, and tea were among the taste and habit-changing products first grown and harvested by enslaved persons in the colonial era.
Sugar, cotton, tobacco, and tea were among the taste and habit-changing products first grown and harvested by enslaved persons in the colonial era.
Cycles of Growth #2
Monoprint, 41 x 30 cm
Cycles of Growth #4
Monoprint, 41 x 30 cm
Jonkunnu Mask
Monoprint, 51 x 41 cm
Mother Mother Mother -Holding Dreams
Monoprint with collage, 47 x 30 cm
Mother Mother Mother - Holding Freedom
Monoprint with collage, 47 x 30 cm
Mother Mother Mother - Holding Loss
Monoprint with collage, 47 x 30 cm (this series was awarded the Dawn Scott Memorial Award, by The National Gallery of Jamaica , 2019)
A Sometimes Complicated View
Monoprint with stitches, 81 x 56 cm
A Sometimes Picturesque View
Monoprint with stitches, 81 x 56 cm
The Prophetess Hears
Monoprint, 74 x 57cm
The Prophetess Speaks
Monoprint, 74 x 57cm
Ready made
Monoprint with collage, 74 x 57 cm
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