palm of my hand ::

I see these as almost funerary pieces. The materials — palm fronds, iron artifacts, gold and silver paint, charred wood, cotton cloth, marbleized paper, and local flora — evoke and reflect on the West’s bank in the Caribbean. Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and the Bahamas were locations where labor, land, and history were arrested to usher in the first colonies of the British Empire.

The collective body. You are drawn to marks on the bark, skin stretched in labor, the fraying of fibers, suggesting persistence and overcoming. Fossils of memory. Freedom felled, yet uncovered by another generation, given a proper place among the ancestors.

6 works, 22” x 28”

“The exact amount of money that the British made from the colonization of the Caribbean is difficult to estimate, as it involved various economic activities and transactions over several centuries.

However, it is well-established that British colonialism in the Caribbean was highly profitable for the British Empire, and it played a crucial role in Britain’s economic development and global power.

One of the main sources of wealth for the British in the Caribbean was the production of cash crops, such as sugar, tobacco, and coffee, which were grown on plantations worked by enslaved Africans. The profits from these crops were immense, and they were a significant driver of the British economy during the 18th and 19th centuries.

In addition to the production of cash crops, the British also profited from the trade of enslaved Africans, which was a major source of labour for the plantation system. The British were heavily involved in the transatlantic slave trade and dominated the trade during the 18th century.

The profits from these economic activities allowed the British Empire to invest in other industries, such as manufacturing and banking, which further fueled Britain’s economic growth and global power.”

text: blackhistorymonth.org/uk