Jermaine Oxley
Artist
I am a Caribbean Artist from Barbados located in Vancouver BC, with African roots that made me what I am today. They’re the reason I am from Barbados. They’re the reason I exist at all. To these roots, I owe my culture but create a signature to my heritage through my disciplinary artwork. The Caribbean was the core crime that showcased the humanity of the transatlantic slave trade. 40 percent of enslaved Africans were shipped to the Caribbean Islands in the seventeenth century which surrounded the principal market in the sugar plantation region operated primarily regions in reach of capitalizing black lives.
“Capitalism and black slavery were intertwined. The Atlantic economy, in every aspect, was effectively sustained by African enslavement”
The extreme judicial form the instrumental introduce the Slave Code took a turn into the first instituted by the English in Barbados. In 1661, the comprehensive law defined Africans as heathens and brutes, but legislators proceed to say, “Africans as non-human is a form of property to be owned by purchasing them as a product by governing that Christian laws couldn’t originally be governed laws for Black Culture. The slave codes ventured across to the Caribbean islands which modelled the new colonies’ age of slavery.
Barbados became one the first largest scale black colonized populated of black Africans, enslavement was primarily an institution of the social and economic governance of the hemisphere. Capitalism of black slavery intertwined with a political but economic situation that found these black societies an unrich culture. Over the centuries black slavery was formed in a modern racial plunder and consequence of the economic extraction that structurally created an underdevelopment.
“Colonialism has persisted for over a century after the ending of formal slavery, leaving black communities to deal with economic despair and the emerging political class to clean up the inherited colonial disarray.”
While studying at Emily University of Art + Design I surrounded my practice with cultural Art projects that originated from the soul-breaking search to open doors in this art world by creating a signature style of historical interdisciplinary construction media. The work I propose is supported by a cross-labour practice that develops ways to incorporate the medium into a large piece of canvas. These materials play a big factor in each piece I create that builds a connection with the historical background of Caribbean Culture. As an upcoming artist, it profoundly influenced the pressure and intense labour-art of a three-dimensional painting on canvas. These paintings, compose a giving moment of a relationship of black Caribbean history, which environmentally celebrated traditional harvesting after being given the chance to showcase their tradition through Crop Over which was called Harvest Home during the beginning of the sugar cane plantation slavery. This festival evolved into the Caribbean expressing its colourful roots through the street.
Having that quality voice of emotional links gives a flat surface a meaningful factor of steps towards materializing the expression of emotional artwork. Many of my installations focus on the way I build forms through materials like nails, thread, paint and many more materials but focus more on how deep the connection I’ve sourced through bonding with my practice. By using black silhouettes to transform the human figure into a three-dimensional painting it imposes the beauty of “MY” heritage. Introducing the relationship of dance and song to the upcoming paintings transforms the beauty of each silhouette into a movement of celebration with colour, texture, and rhythm.
“Did you know that each flag carries a special meaning? For example, the two black triangles in the Jamaican flag represent overcoming hardships from the past and future. The two green triangles represent hope and good farming while the yellow cross represents soil and sunlight in the sky of Jamaica. The flag colours in Trinidad and Tobago, represent Earth, water, and fire. Black is a symbol of unity and strength, red is a symbol of the energy and warmth of the sun, and white for the sea that unites the two principal islands. The colours in flags represent the beliefs and values of each country. The flags of the Caribbean are all unique, but they have some similarities in their designs.”
Working along with your Artist-Run-Center will structure my cultural heritage of expressive artwork through my historical background. Creating this opportunity, it will develop my artwork to be recognized not only as art but as cultural art by working towards being legendary in my practice. The Artist-Run-Center provides a key understanding of how they support and encourage artists of any kind to pursue their opportunities by opening doors that can’t be closed. Having these centers in my corner will voice my success in this art world.
Artist Statement
As a mixed-media artist, I am interested in exploring the emotions of this project that relates to the historical factors that appeared in the early 1600s in the Caribbean enslavement age. A movement that began in my hometown, “Barbados” in which the style of coloured people revived themselves by creating a festival called, “Kadooment” after the yearly harvesting of plantation enslavement. Embodying the traditional festival of “Crop Over” once called “Harvest Home”, which began during the enslavement of the sugar cane plantation harvesting it introduces the relationship of dance and song to create a celebration of freedom. Combining my artistic studies with the historical background of the crop-over which is a festival to celebrate the emancipation from slavery, the Caribbean flags and materials rhythm as one to express my roots by stamping my ancestors through my work. The technique is influenced by a connection with my culture of freedom and growth which represents a great factor in my artwork. My painting explores the forms and symbolism that are in Black Caribbean culture within the history of emancipation from slavery, this physical labour bonds my culture to this work which materializes an emotional expression and connection to a soulful drive.
My other creative work includes drawings, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media, and painting. I believe the purpose that creates the insight into this art project, is supported by an interdisciplinary practice that disciplines the development of each media to recreate the general way of mixed media. Having this discipline towards this project gives me as an artist insight into how forms can be connected. Having that quality voice of emotional links gives a flat surface a meaningful factor of steps towards materializing the expression of emotional artwork. Many of my installations focus on how I build forms through materials like nails, thread, paint, and each Caribbean flag colour with many more materials to add along with other upcoming projects. By using black silhouettes to transform the human figure into a three-dimensional painting it imposes the beauty of “MY” heritage. Introducing the relationship of dance and song to the upcoming paintings that transform each silhouette’s beauty into a movement of celebration with colour, texture, and rhythm.
My recent work, titled “Culture, draws me near to “BLACK CARIBBEAN HISTORY”, by using nails as a structure to weave a thread that builds into a three-dimensional painting of colours within the two-dimensional space of the installation. My three-dimensional paintings focus on the way I build each silhouette to transform the human figure into a three-dimensional painting that imposes the beauty of “my” heritage.
The installation of the project surrounds mixed-raced sexuality, the behaviour, and the characters that relate to a given religious Caribbeanistic culture. By defining the structure, I introduce the installation with a very labour-intensive rhythm of nails and media that can be considered as art-craft. By installing this connection with the canvas, I heightened the historical artwork as a celebration of freedom. Introducing this new paragraph by exploring the depths of materials opens a new space to explore but also defines my art practice.
