an expression of ceramics, craft and art

about the artist

The undercurrent in all my work is forging a connection to the cultural resources that have been lost to the colonial machine; the ones most relevant to my practice are those related to traditional ceramics production. Hundreds of years (or as few as fifty) removed from the involuntary migration of my Jamaican, Indigenous and European ancestors, I feel a strong pull towards traditional ceramics – traditional defined here as ceramic production in cultural contexts which has remained intact since before European contact.

I am ambivalent about Indigenous peoples having to learn their own cultural heritage from elective classes taught by scholars and anthropologists, not members of that group, as was the case with me. However, in my case, without those scholars and anthropologists, it is unlikely I would know anything about the peoples I am descended from. Therefore, I have deliberately tried to broaden my knowledge and experience outside of Western art institutions, through direct learning from traditional practitioners in both South Africa and the American Southwest.