WHY I CREATE

Yahfa Guerrra

I am a painter who is in search of identity by exploring where I come from. My portraits sing of my own face and the faces of my immediate family, yet they only serve as placeholders. This method of portraiture creates a direct connection to those being investigated. My paintings are filled with rich browns and saturated vibrant hues. Through my use of color, I breathe life back into echoed faces and reinvent their identity. My scenery often depicts vortexes of color that allude to a sense of oblivion. I merge reality with abstract pattern and texture, which further illustrates  emotional and psychological perceptions. My intuitive process invites the spirits of the women I only know stories of. I find myself estranged from my lineal homeland of the West Indies, in which the culture has a large focus on familial ties. This idea of ancestry involves more than just the past,  it's also seen as a guide to your present and future. Their hands that are now mine, twist and bend material forcing interlocking patterns into shapes. The love of my  grandmother spilled into the cloth art she made for her children, I currently embody. I smear paint onto a canvas, like my mother smeared chocolate lip gloss onto my lips and vaseline across my face. This idea of legacy fills my brain with the thought that we are our forebears biggest dream. Yet it begs the question: what do we dream of for our progeny?  It is my ambition that my work creates a long standing connection between the past, present, and future. My work is homage to my ancestors, my culture, and my native land.  All to deliver the message, we are still here.