Think of England - Zoë Wilkinson

MA painting, Royal College of Art
 
Oil on Sugarcane
 
This painting explores my mixed British Caribbean history. I use sugarcane fabric to reference my family history of indentured labour in the Caribbean where my ancestors worked on the sugar plantations. The translucent nature of the fabric allows light to diffuse through the fabric meaning that the words, written on the back of the fabric, appear according to the light conditions where the work is hung. This magical and randomness is intrinsic to the work that draws from the folklore of the Caribbean. The work is painted in Ultramarine Blue oil paint. I use this colour to signify the colonial histories of painting. This pigment travelled, like my family, via ship from east to west.