Migrating from the Caribbean twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago, to Ontario, Canada, was a huge transition to me, in culture, society and especially with my understanding of art and my work as an artist. 

I always thought that the realism style I often undertook in drawing and painting, at Naparima Girls’ High School, would be the style that I would stick with. My formal art education always focused more on realism over expressionism, Impressionism, abstraction and contemporary studies, and it was only until I continued my studies at York University, that I changed my focus of style. 

For many years I thought that I had to immediately understand the meanings of abstraction and contemporary work, and that political and controversial pieces were too upfront and challenging to the viewer. I started my art education at York, with beliefs that art just had to be beautiful and explicitly tell the story that it meant to. I honestly had little respect for abstraction, due to my beliefs that not understanding meant that it was not that great. 

Engaging in courses such as, “Contemporary Studies in Art & Sculpture”, “Shifting Abstraction”, “Contemporary Approaches to Nature”, and “ Studies in Impressionism”, gave my personal perception and understanding of art a complete turn around. I have always struggles with being expressive with my work in terms of spontaneity and emotions, and have always enjoyed painting nature and landscapes as I saw them, to simply capture moments in time that I enjoyed. 

I feel as though I went through a lot of self reflecting as an artist, and struggled a lot internally within the last few years, of coming to terms with the idea that my style was beginning to shift to a more expressive, contemporary portrayal of nature, rather than realistic. I began having these sorts of conversations with myself about why do I feel this way in nature, and how I can express my emotions and impressions through my work in ways that also narrate what I experience in these moments.