projects

[W]hole, 2024

Black is a hole–emptiness.
Avoid in a colonial landscape.
Afragmentation and displacement of self.
I long to be whole–fullness
For my Blackness to be complete.
To reclaim the missing piece,
So in anguish, I try to mend the psychic scars
Will they heal?

Bleached Identity, 2024

Bleached Identity explores Jamaica’s enduring colorism and its harmful impact on identity, self-image, and community. Using macro skin portraits and personal audio narratives, the work confronts how colonial ideals of whiteness still shape privilege and discrimination today. The installation features 61 skin photographs marking 61 years of Jamaican independence (2023) and invites viewers to sit on a divided bench—symbolizing segregation by skin tone—to listen and reflect. By sharing stories from diverse Jamaicans, including those who bleach their skin, the work exposes the mental and physical consequences of colorism and challenges viewers to confront these uncomfortable truths

Transcending Hues, 2023

Transcending Hues is a direct protest against colorism’s colonial roots. This large cardboard structure, layered with Jamaican patois slangs—crossed out, torn, bleached—exposes how language perpetuates self-hate. The push-and-pull of receding and protruding placards mirrors this tension. Cardboard, a commodified material in varied browns, parallels Black bodies historically treated as cargo. This work confronts how deeply colorism is embedded—and demands we unlearn it, word by word, shade by shade.

Colorism Vanitas, 2023

Colorism Vanitas is a still life photography series confronting colorism in Jamaica and racism in the US through vanitas symbolism. Using baroque lighting and muted tones, I pair wilting flowers with skin-lightening products against bleached brown paper—referencing the brown paper bag test. Antique frames and cluttered objects expose the ties between slavery, colonialism, and racial hierarchies. Intimate close-ups reveal skin bleaching’s hidden violence and its fatal consequences.

Layers of Truth I & II, 2022

Layers of Truth I & II focuses on my encounter with St. Louis as a foreigner and my identity as a Black person in its history. I translated this history by using doors to create a life-sized interactive sculpture and intentionally capturing detailed messages of the sculpture through photography. I intend to captivate the viewer as an overcomer, victim, bystander, or perpetrator while helping to create new associations that potentially challenge one’s perspectives and assumptions. The aim is for the viewer is to engage with the artwork by moving each door and absorbing the recurring history of racial violence against the Black community.

All Mopped Up, 2021

All Mopped Up confronts the physical and emotional toll of racial discrimination and exploitative labor faced by Caribbean migrants in the U.S. Using contorted self-portraits, I shaped a slouched body form in mesh, densely layered with stapled mop fibers. The mop references both the stereotype of immigrant labor and the residue of trauma—obscuring the body to reveal how discrimination erodes self-worth and identity. This work exposes the hidden cost of the so-called “better life” many pursue abroad

...they Remain the Same, 2021

...they Remain the Same examines how racial violence persists across time. A chalkboard and chalk drawing of a slave master underscore how history repeats when unlearned. Scars marked with racial slurs expose the enduring wounds of Black trauma—old and new, visible and psychic. The blurred text reflects the mental chaos racism inflicts. This work calls out the structures that uphold racism while Black communities bear its lasting scars.

Beyond Expectations, 2021

Beyond Expectations examines racial discrimination and immigration through collage and photography. The abstract backdrop—created with ripped brown paper and my work visa documents—stands as both set and artwork. The photographs pair fragmented bodies with work tools like mops, shovels, and wheelbarrows, equating immigrant laborers to disposable tools. This series exposes how migrant bodies are dehumanized and reduced to labor, revealing the hidden cost of “opportunity” abroad.