Suelae Robinson is an Antiguan artist, of English and Guyanese descent. Combining patchwork, embroidery, and poetry, her textile artworks explore past, present and future narratives of Caribbean people. Utilizing tools such as mythology and imagination, Suelae pieces together lost stories shared by the diasporic communities of the Caribbean. Her colorful textile pieces are often inspired by the natural flora and fauna in the Caribbean region, illuminating the links between cultural practices and nature. Her patchwork style, influenced by textiles practices from Africa, America and the Caribbean, shows the effect of cultural syncretism, a product of colonization. Sharing her own embodied knowledge and that of her community, her work uncovers the interpersonal effects of history, in an effort to create communal understanding and growth
Ocean Journeys - The colonisation of the Caribbean and the Americas, the violent transference of peoples, crafted exchanges of cultures, ideas, languages and stories. A culmination of events that lead to the formation of diaspora nations. How were these people affected? What knowledge did they leave and what did they bring? What was able to survive once it crossed over the Atlantic? What was forever lost? How many loved ones were ripped away? How did they continue to be who were despite forceful erasure of their identities?How do descendants of the diaspora relate to the ocean now? Does it create boundaries? Does it keep them isolated? How are collective histories of the islands passed on when they remain separated to each other?This piece represents all that was lost, shared and exchanged during the enslavement and colonisation of the Caribbean and surrounding areas.
Zebra - Zebra Patchwork is a patchwork that aims to tell my story as a mixed race girl growing up in the Caribbean and later moving to Europe. Through 10 questions and statements from myself and other people, it opens up a conversation about race, skin colour, and cultural practices. With this work I invite the viewer to think if they have ever asked or recieved these kinds of questions or statements, and what implications do they have on our identity?
Rice Braided in Hair - During the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, enslaved Africans braided rice grains, crop seeds and plant buds into their hair, in anticipation of the Middle Passage. Once crossing over to the other side and arriving in colonies, slaves used these storages to harvest their own food supplies. In Suriname, escaped slaves used the smuggled seeds and grains to feed whole communities of people living in the jungle, known as Maroons. Generations later they still grow crops native to Africa using traditional methods. This patchwork book, re-imagines this story using Afro-mythology.
Heritage - Heritage is about the food I grew up eating and the different countries that influenced Caribbean food altogether. I liked food as a lens into my heritage because it felt like an easy stepping-stone into a much larger story that would take more time to uncover. I looked at the African and Indian influences on our foods by incorporating textiles that come from those cultures. For example looking at the second row from the top, the turquoise squares inside the blue squares are pieces from a sari my grandmother had from her times in India. Looking at the third row, the green and white shapes on the blue squares represent ockra, or ladys fingers. They are now part of Antigua's national dish but they originated in India. The black dots on the fourtth row represent beans, the countless beans and rice we eat. The fish represent snapper, a local delicacy. It also represents the fish dishes we have like salt fish or fish cakes whose recipes came over from Europe. All in all this patchwork celebrates the cultural amalgamation that is the Caribbean.
6 Black Caribbean Heroes - This is a storytelling patchwork of 6 people whose lives were affected by the African diaspora due to the transatlantic slave trade. Some had adventurous and eventful lives, others less so but all are equally as important to hear. These are stories that don’t normally get recognition; their voices go unheard. For me to understand the cultural landscape of my region I had to know more about the people who made a difference or whose stories were forgotten. These people represent strength and resilience in the face of a world stacked against them.
Fire on Sugar Mountain: Memories of a Hidden History – Graduation - Fire on Sugar Mountain is a patchwork textile piece combined with a recorded piece of poetry. The artwork explores memories of my childhood home, Antigua, an island that was once scattered with sugar cane plantations. Including the land I grew up on, which my family named Sugar Mountain. Growing up, I experienced this place as a mystical jungle wonderland, but I am now reflecting on it’s largely unknown and undeniably painful history of enslaved Africans that laboured on the land before it became our home. What if the nature and trees of Sugar mountain have kept their spirits all this time? What stories could I hear if I listen close enough? This artwork journeys through notions of struggle, mystery and hope as I imagine an unheard history.
Fire on Sugar Mountain: Memories of a Hidden History – Wereld Museum - Fire on Sugar Mountain is a patchwork textile piece combined with a recorded piece of poetry. The artwork explores memories of my childhood home, Antigua, an island that was once scattered with sugar cane plantations. Including the land I grew up on, which my family named Sugar Mountain. Growing up, I experienced this place as a mystical jungle wonderland, but I am now reflecting on it’s largely unknown and undeniably painful history of enslaved Africans that laboured on the land before it became our home. What if the nature and trees of Sugar mountain have kept their spirits all this time? What stories could I hear if I listen close enough? This artwork journeys through notions of struggle, mystery and hope as I imagine an unheard history.
