Raneece Buddan Jamaica
THE IMPORTANCE OF CARIBBEAN ART STORIES
Our story is unique to us and the world has yet to experience our art in a medium other than our music. Within the art scene the same stories are constantly being told, so there is room for new experiences and perspectives. There are vibrant cultures on each island that have the commonality of being built as a result of colonization and the mixing of people of different races and ethnicities. When put in the same room, no matter the country we will always feel like a family, like we are one because of our shared experiences and quite often the same upbringing. This is a story that deserves to be told and heard.
Born and raised in Jamaica, Raneece Buddan moved to Canada in 2015 and completed her BFA at the University of Alberta. In her work she focuses on her cultural identity as a Jamaican woman of African and Indo-Caribbean descent, merging both cultures with the use of fabric from each, as an identifier for who she is, rather than her skin tone. She works to obscure the concept that we need to look a certain way, with specific features and shade of skin tone in order to be a part of a group/race. In Jamaica as a child being mixed with another race was glorified. The silkier the hair, the "nicer" and "prettier" it is and you too in turn. This is relayed through the use of synthetic hair to signify her struggle from a young age with her attachment to her hair, intertwining it with her beauty.
Her process is based on material exploration and finding the figures within the grains of the wood and the clumps of clay. She sees them as being stuck between a phase of abstraction and realism; state of uncertainty. The goal of each piece she creates is to learn more about herself and celebrate the beauty and complexity of her race and culture throughout the process.
EDUCATION
2020 BFA in Art and Design, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
EXHIBITIONS
2021 5 Artists 1 Love Black Every Day, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
2021 Skirts A Fire Visual Art Exhibit and Festival, Edmonton, AB, Canada
2020 Schmoozy, Latitude 53, Edmonton, AB, Canada
2020 Making Space: 2020 In Review, Terry P. Daley Gallery, Edmonton, AB, Canada
2020 Castles of Butter, Lowlands Project Space, Edmonton, AB, Canada
2020 5 Artist 1 Love, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
2020 5 Artist 1 Love, Scott Gallery, Edmonton, AB, Canada
2019 As Is, On Sight Auction, Enterprise Square, Edmonton, AB, Canada
2019 North Bennington Outdoor Sculpture Show (NBOSS), North Bennington, VT, USA
2019 Becoming, North Main Gallery, Salem, NY, USA
2019 Representation of Blackness in the Arts in Edmonton, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
2019 As if Matter Matters, Rutherford Library, Edmonton, AB, Canada
2018 Going Once Auction and Exhibition, Enterprise Square Gallery, Edmonton, AB, Canada
2017 Hope and Fear, Rutherford Library, Edmonton, AB, Canada
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
2019 Salem Art Works (SAW), Salem, NY, USA
