Public Art, Identity & Returning to myself

Catalysts on the Journey …

There are certain moments or periods of life that come along and change everything. Sometimes, it’s obvious. But sometimes, it only becomes obvious with distance, when that moment is brought into perspective within the larger context of your journey. In my research, I refer to these things as “Catalysts on the Journey”.

“Who’s a Bahamian?” was a public art project that interrogated Bahamian identity from many angles, beginning first with the question: What does a “Bahamian” LOOK like? I was OVERLY privileged to be asked to assist with this project.

We spoke with and photographed people across the island of New Providence from many backgrounds, scaled buildings in downtown Nassau, and wheat pasted the photos all over those buildings, illuminating the radical idea that people’s identities are determined by more than the way that they look, the nationalities their passports represent, and the way that they worship.

At the time that I was asked to participate in this project, a lot of things that really weren’t meant for me at all were starting to fall apart in my life. Connected to that (nothing is coincidental), the events surrounding this moment and the turns that my life took as a result of being part of this project may be one of the most significant “Catalysts” on MY journey —

ever.

I experienced a domino effect of events that set me on a completely different trajectory — a trajectory that’s returned me to myself in a million ways. Myself — a person I’D rejected for most of my life. Myself — who III perceived as unworthy of being seen, loved, respected and valued in the ways she desired because she was too weird, too creative, too intellectual, too visionary, too colorful, too loud, too opinionated, and too far out there with all of those ideas about “natural healing,” the spirit of the Earth, and the power of touch, art, dance, music and laughter to heal the mind, heart, soul and body — individually and collectively.

This moment of my life reverberates into and through my being every day. The journey isn’t linear. These “Catalysts” (especially the big ones) are more like pebbles in a pond dropped at random locations. Their reverberations intersect, run into one another and send the energy back to the Source, spiraling. And I always wonder: How did I get back here again?

There’s a place within you that is so pure, it can’t be tainted, touched, or judged by anything outside of you.

Some truths are undeniable. When they call, you must answer. Asé. 🙏