RCA Graduate Show 2026 | memory as a site of reconstruction Installation

The processes used, as mentioned, are of major importance to the work. The exterior of the house was created using multiple textile-making processes such as kalamkari, a hand-painted, block-printing technique from India, and Adire, an indigo resist-dyeing technique using folded cloth, tied thread, and painted cassava paste from Nigeria. Using the indigo dyeing process in the creation of the work was due to its multi-rootedness - indigenous all over the world, with a role in transatlantic trade. Within this home, I have made my own valuables that are artifacts of the people. My pottery fuses ceramic 3D printing with traditional West African and Indian pottery styles and textile motifs prominent in Nigeria, such as Okene, Akwete, and Adire, Ghanaian Kente, Chintz from India, and the Jamaican Bandana.  This red bandana fabric, seen throughout the work, was originally from Madras (Chennai), India, but was brought to the Caribbean by the British during slavery. Enslaved Africans and Indian Indentured Servants were required to wear it, but African women were forced to use it to cover their hair by plantation owners due to discrimination and to maintain control. It has now become our symbol of resilience and pride in our national identity. Finally, the bronze pieces in the work are inspired by Ghanaian gold regalia and Nigerian bronze masks using lost-wax casting. The sense of home was created with the synthetic flowers I painted and the vintage objects, like handmade doilies and furniture I refurbished.

This body of work is an investigation of identity politics in Jamaica and the wider diaspora. It references my family and our home, but also things I have no direct connection to that hold significance. The objects turned sculptures were once used in rituals or during traditional practices, with the motifs and the craftsmanship used to make them passed down generationally.  I am, however, engaging with them from an outsider's perspective, as this ancestral thread of knowledge was cut many generations ago. With colonialism came assimilation, and ways of life changed. Some things stayed, but the majority were combined, responding to a new society and culture. To me, this work is unique in its creation because many Jamaicans identify solely with Jamaican identity. There is a willful ignorance and distancing due to shame of having ancestors who were enslaved and taken advantage of. It’s also amplified by Western narratives that deem Africans and Indians as primitive and exotic, influencing our society. They therefore don’t see the need to connect with or claim our ancestors. I, however, have chosen to embody them using photography, placing myself as the vessel that houses them. The images of myself in the house are inspired by images taken during colonial times to exoticize enslaved Africans and Indian indentured servants for postcards to encourage Europeans to occupy the land.

This body of work is research that informs Jamaicans of our past and present identities, amplifying the beauty we come from. There is no shame in owning the story of our existence.