About This Project
Actor Boy, a character from the Jamaican Slave celebration, Jonkonnu, is an agent of chaos, a trickster who parodies the culture of his overseers. Costumed in a Victorian style dress, boots, mask and a large carnival headdress the character lampoons his masters, mocking their dress, cultural habits and proclivities. An image of Actor Boy taken from a 1837 print from the Jamaican born artist, Isaac Mendes Belisario, forms the underlying figure in the Actor Boy series. Translated here into a series of mandalas the paintings condense the exuberance and 'world upside down' nature of Jonkonnu into an object for spiritual contemplation.
Bagasse, the trash left over after sugar cane cultivation, acts as a metaphor for a global system that priviledges an economic model that sees human relationships and the environment as by-products
"I'm trying to open up a space between our immediate visual apprehension of the image surface and the stories that can be told about their underlying forms. This space between narrative and image is where the viewer enters and gives meaning. It's a space where transformation is possible."
