"Caribe, My Love" is a collection of paintings inspired by my connection to my Afro-Caribbean heritage. Last year, during my first visit to Limón, on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica—my maternal grandfather's homeland—I felt that family memory and collective history merged into a single wave.

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This body of work reflects not only my personal identity but also the pulse of Limón and its people: the murmur of the sea, the strength of fishermen, the endless green of banana groves, and the sweetness of cacao once harvested with pride before the monilia fungus devastated the plantations. That blight did more than destroy crops; it changed the cultural landscape, shifting livelihoods and forcing communities to reinvent their resilience. Yet out of loss emerged creativity, solidarity, and new traditions rooted in survival and dignity.

 

These paintings capture the luminous simplicity of daily life: neighbors greeting one another, women hanging clothes under the Caribbean sun, couples courting with tenderness, and elders passing down wisdom in song and story. Music, especially calypso, is woven into these canvases—not only as joy but as testimony. One of the works is inspired by Walter Ferguson, the legendary calypsonian of Cahuita, whose songs became chronicles of everyday life, humor, and struggle. His voice, both playful and profound, continues to echo in Limón as a living archive of memory and resistance. These everyday rituals, often overlooked, emerge as symbols of resilience, beauty, and identity.

 

"Caribe, My Love" is both homage and testimony: to the land that holds memories, to the ancestors whose hands tilled and sang, to the culture that refuses to be silenced. It is a celebration of a Caribbean that belongs to me and also embraces me—a Caribbean that continues to sing, to work, to dream, and to live fully beside the sea.