Caribbean Art Renaissance

Guadeloupe 🇬🇵 artist Orane explores the question of identity through the lens of portraits, particularly those of women. The Caribbean is an inexhaustible source of inspiration, she says. Each canvas is a reflection of her identity, imbued with her rich cultural heritage. In this quest for meaning, Orane has skillfully used vibrant colors, true allies in capturing the appearances, emotions, and even life stories that shine through in each face. Her art is an extension of herself, she likes to say, observing the smallest details of her surroundings daily to fuel her creativity. With her works, which represent universal communication and break down linguistic and cultural barriers, Orane invites viewers to see beyond the surface. She hopes to awaken curiosity, evoke emotions, and perhaps even provoke thought. "My art is my identity, and through it, I share my soul with the world."

Orane explore la question de l’identité à travers le prisme des portraits, en particulier ceux des femmes. La Caraïbe est une source inépuisable d’inspiration, dit-elle. Chaque toile n’est autre que le miroir de son identité, imprégnée de son riche héritage culturel. Dans cette quête de sens, Orane a su tirer parti des couleurs vives, véritables alliées pour capturer les apparences, les émotions voire les récits de vie qui transparaissent derrière chaque visage. Son art est une extension d’elle-même, aime-t-elle dire, observant au quotidien les détails les plus infimes de son environnement pour nourrir sa créativité. Avec ses œuvres synonymes d’une communication universelle, brisant les barrières linguistiques et culturelles, Orane invite les spectateurs à voir au-delà. Elle souhaite ainsi éveiller les curiosités, susciter des émotions et, pourquoi pas, amener une réflexion. « Mon art est mon identité et, à travers lui, je partage mon âme avec le monde.

Haitian artist Ayanna Legros is a mixed-media artist, scholar, writer, and radio archivist. Her collages are a multi-layered exercise in preserving Haiti’s 🇭🇹 historical memory, widening the public’s understanding of American history, and recognizing the significant contributions Caribbean peoples to global history. All of her works, from her glass bottles, to her collage pieces, invite the audience to have a deeper and more embodied engagement with their own pasts, identities, concepts of home, and family migration stories. Her anthropological and historical research alongside her community centered educational work shapes her daily outlook and nurtures her research interests in Caribbean, Latin American, and African diaspora studies. She is a graduate of Northwestern University (BA), New York University (MA), and Duke University (MA).

website: https://ayannalegros.com/ (art)
website: https://ayannalegros.com/lheurehaitienne (radio archive)
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Trinidadian artist 🇹🇹 Donald Hinkson, known as Jackie, is an award-winning prolific painter with a gift for capturing the light and life of the Caribbean. Born in 1942 in ‘Cobo Town’, Port of Spain, he trained in Paris at the Academie Julien (1963-64) and at the University of Alberta, Canada (1965-70). He was influenced at an early age by the works of Cézanne, Turner and Winslow Homer.

In the 1950s, as a young boy, he travelled with his father and brothers across the country, and what he saw left a mark. For over half a century, he has tried to capture this sense of community and closeness to nature in his paintings of homes, from Mayaro to Lambeau. His dexterity as a draughtsman can be seen in the hundreds of drawings in pen, pencil or conté crayon of historical buildings, some adjacent to modern skyscrapers, many of these colonial structures having lost the battle have been demolished in a day.

His watercolour washes are Homeric, perfectly weighted, the tones incredibly accurate. He prefers plein air watercolours which in the Caribbean require tenacity, patience and agility, the weather may change from stark sunshine to rain in minutes and sometimes residents may be uncomfortable with any intrusion by a stranger.
(Extracted from Ins & Outs of Trinidad & Tobago).