My work examines the struggle, failed expectations, and legacy of a displaced people: Afro-Caribbean migrants called to work in the Panama Canal in the early 1900s. The collected interviews and their intimate accounts inform my practice and illustrate the challenges of a separate canal zone. My collages draw on archival images that fetishize the black body as exotic and obscure the female experience, dissociating the true narrative from the image itself. Through mixed media collage, I bring together these leftover portraits with family photos and handwritten notes connecting shared truths in the African diaspora. The mixed media collages highlight the contrasting racial, religious, and linguistic disparities within Panamanian society and culture. Just as memory can be fragmented and fabricated, the juxtaposition of images and different materials reframes old beliefs creating new perspectives and representations of blackness.
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