Transcending Hues is a protest against the insidious inheritance of colonial indoctrination and the cultural semantics that fuel colorism in Jamaica. This monumental rectangular structure, built from cardboard strips and hand-written patio slangs, mirrors the raw energy of spontaneous street protests I’ve witnessed back home in Jamaica, acts of resistance sparked by collective frustration.

Negative slurs, born from slavery and colonial rule, are scratched out, torn, crossed off, and bleached, forcing viewers to confront how language turns us against ourselves. Some phrases recede, others push forward, echoing the relentless tug-of-war within our own communities.

Cardboard carries the weight of history as an industrial material extracted, processed, and commodified, just as Black bodies were stolen and traded. Its varied brown tones mirror our skin’s spectrum; soaked, torn, and layered as papier-mâché, they embody the fragility and resilience of Black identity.

Transcending Hues declares that colorism is an injustice demanding to be unlearned, undone, and resisted—word by word, shade by shade. This is my protest!