Incipiency

2021 - 2022

I was born to a white mother and a black father. Long before my own racial abuse started, it began with them. My mother for being a traitor to her own race. My father for daring to exist in a place that he did not belong. As a family we looked different: no one person the same colour as another.

In these works I reflect on my experiences of racial trauma that occurred at various sites from my childhood. Each self portrait exploring my duality is punctuated with a place, layered with hand drawn maps of these locations, redrawn and embedded into my psyche.

Each line is an acknowledgement of a place that once held such hurt, but is now reclaimed in colour. Each site and its memories have simply delivered me to where I am meant to be today.

This work was originally commissioned by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, with additional funding from Arts Council England. The work forms part of the permanent artwork on display, showcasing photographic works, process drawings and a large vinyl map at the Tavistock’s building at 120 Belsize Lane, London. You can read more about the process behind the work here.

Exhibited:

Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
120 Belsize Lane, London
From June 24th 2022

Supported by:

Originally commissioned by Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, with additional funding from Arts Council England and support from Race Equality Foundation.

Participatory Element:

With additional funding from Arts Council England I commissioned and supported 4 artists of colour to deliver creative workshops for mental health staff, focusing on subconscious racial biases. These sessions were run in partnership with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust across the summer of 2023.