Born in Kingston to a French mother and a Jamaican father and educated in France and the U.K, I was forced to come back to Jamaica in April 2011 after completing a Photography M.A. at the London College of Communication (2009-2010). Unsure how long I will remain here, my current photography and video practice incorporates my body, exploring trans-location and physical expressions of emotional states in the search for my cultural identity.

artist statement for my recent solo show entitled 'my dear daddy' April-May 2011

'Immobility and silence are not only two objective aspects of death, they are also its main symbols, they figure it' *

Fueled by nostalgia, loss and mourning, this solo exhibition re-figures the aura of my late father by mapping out a personal world inhabited by myself as a masked figure portrayed in a variety of domestic and picturesque Caribbean spaces. The still images of varying sizes are soaked in immobility and silence, punctuated by two small moving image works and a group of character studies with one unmasked portrait. The presence of my home's 1960s furniture maping the gallery space; draws the viewer into the photographic plane, resonating with those more familiar with this environment then myself.

This character which I have named Whitey, re-appropriates the long lost family home and 'exotic' landscapes alongside collaged images of my father, which hover in the space that he should have inhabited. Whithin this re-composed archive, Whitey's poses are portrayals of the saturated emotional lanscapes which I inhabit. First created as a coping mechanism, Whitey has grown into a stand-alone character which appears in other charged Caribbean spaces such as Cuba's Bay of Pigs; in search of my wider Caribbean heritage.

* Christian Metz, 'Photography and Fetish' in The Critical Image: Essays in Contemporary Photography, ed. Carol Squiers, Seattle, Bay Press, 1990, pp.155-64

artist statement for the photographic and time-based works made during my Photography M.A. (2010)

Video work:

These two bodies of work deal with isolation, captured through still and moving images. Single figures hover between the real and imagined world of the frame I have recorded them in.

ELATION, video installation over two screens. Bodies:5min 48, Head: 55s on loops with sound (2010)

RELEASE YOURSELF: 3min 30s single screen video montage with sound (2010)

Raves, clubs and festivals are conducive to a type of non-partnered dancing which acquire aspects of personal and communal rituals. Since the early days of 1970's Disco, many critics have perceived this form of dancing as a hollow and individualistic form of enjoyment for 'young people who don't want to have contact with anyone and who couldn't anyway' (Lawrence quoting Borovik, p.318 in Lawrence, T (2003) Love saves the day, a history of american dance music culture 1970-1979, London and Durham, Duke University Press). In 2010, Dance music has grown and mutated into a plethora of different genres, and represents a large section of the music industry. Release yourself depicts three club dancers expressing their physical appreciation of a repetitive beat. With a more conceptual approach, Elation looks at the role of dancing within today's society, by focussing on the physical reactions of different dancers to the same beat.

Photographic work:

ARRESTED REALITY: C-Type prints (2009)

CEMENT WORKS, THE MIRROR, THE WILD THINGS, A RED BALOON, THE GREENHOUSE

These single images are inspired by the fantastical elements within ordinary life found in children’s tales old and new. Within these intricate settings, a lone figure hovers in a frame rich with suggestion and mystery. The confined surroundings are an ambiguous stage in which the isolated characters are a visual trigger for a plethora of possible stories.