Portable Tropics

I have constantly thought about the idea of home; It is reoccurring layer in my works. During my time in Germany I had time to reflect on the things that we do to cope with our existence in new places or even in the place that gave birth to us; creating safe spaces, looking for things that reminds us or make us feel like home… like we belong.

Also, in a recent conversation with my best friend and also artist, Nikolai Noel, we were talking about constantly having to prove the value of our work… but pushing this idea a little further… we have to constantly as brown, black and Caribbean beings have to prove the value our existence. We (I) tend to ask several questions that involve race and ethnicity each time something happens. Did this happen because how I look? The color of my skin? my accent? my nationality? I guess Caribbean folk tries to compensate their own insecurities by getting a bunch of degrees…even better if they are foreign degrees, because the local ones are issued by locals… That same people that look just like you and me. 

During my time in Germany, I had some time to step away from all that and think about home. I bought several plants during my time there. Where I was staying had a beautiful Yucca plant, sometimes called Yucca palm due to its similarities with a palm tree. While moving around the plant from one location to another, I found my self in the street walking with this 3 foot plant. While other walked their dogs, I was walking my Yucca plant. I began to think about all the nature that surrounds me while I am in Trinidad and the little pieces of green that i had acquired while I was there. Was I missing the green lush landscape? maybe I was. Maybe my plants deserves also to be walked around and moved around the apartment to enjoy the very few sunny days of summer.

This, more or less performance, triggered many thoughts about the space I have lived in, the things I have taken for granted and the respect our lush green deserves.

I plan to carry around my plants for walks when I go back to Germany later this year. I will record my walk with my plants and record my thoughts while walking with them.