Yaad, Dusk Garden

“Dusk Garden, ‘Yaad’ “; is a painting of plants cultivated at my family’s home in Jamaica. This painting  explores ties to landscape and identity. Through adornment of flora that relate to geographical and cultural landscapes, portraiture is elevated to a deeper cultural storytelling.

Redefining the idea of portraiture. This portrait shows me. My hand holding things all grown in my Yard. Yaad is the Jamaican patois pronunciation or “Yard” meaning home. These plants speak to a part of my identity that a traditional portrait could not. The Dusk Garden depicts how the environments we live in shape our identities. The landscape serves as a backdrop highlighting the portrait in the foreground. Lighting sets the stage for an exploration of the arrangements of objects but also plays with the depth and color of the background appearing as space and pattern.