I believe that our current reality is merely a fixed point in time and that we can craft whatever worlds we are drawn to, through our thoughts and actions.  This is the intention I bring to my work, which is multidisciplinary in nature, with my paintings heavily influenced by my poetry and my poetry influenced by my art.  Along my artistic journey, I’ve challenged myself to weave in other previously collected skills, such as the embroidery and sewing I learned when I was a little girl. These have gone on, along with my painting to form the background for my wearable art collections.

In one of my poems I write that “a line runs through the middle of things….”  In my work that line is a river and that river is feminism.  Her tributaries - love, loss, motherhood, childlessness, menstruation, a woman’s "place" - extend from that central theme. These change over time, but the river goes on unchanged and unchallenged.  

I am from a humble background.  There are no Marchionesses, nor Duchesses, nor Grand Dames in my family tree as far as I know.  I do know though that my Great-Great-Great Grandmother Miss Mag, had a donkey and friend named Shu-sha. I know that several times each week Miss Mag and Shu-sha would make the 20-mile trek to Trelawny from her home in deep rural St. James, to sell the produce from her farm to pay for the land which has remained in my family for over a hundred years.  I know that my Grandmother has walked from that same rural community to Catadupa with bundles of produce on her head,  to put on the train to Kingston, again to sell to secure the property from which she later fled after giving three sons to the land.

I’ve learned from another Mother that kindness is a virtue but can also be a call for attention and a symptom of a lack of self esteem.  I’ve learned that self-sacrifice is sometimes just romanticized self-abuse. And I’ve learned from being in it, from chasing it, from rejecting it, from loosing it and from practicing it, about love. 

These are the concerns that influence my work - discerning, honest women who seek to better themselves whatever their current station or starting point, romantic love, flowers and the constant search for that perfect cup of bush tea. 

xoxo,

Lattecha