… Winsom puts love in her art

A new exhibit will open at the Image Factory tomorrow night. I am the Alchemist is the first solo exhibition of Winsom Winsom. The artist grew up in Jamaica but after living several years in Canada, moved to Cristo Rey Village in the Cayo District. Her professional peers describe Winsom as a multi-dimensional artist, blending her spirituality and ancestry to create unique self expression. This morning, the media was treated to a preview of the show.

Winsom Winsom
“Most of my pieces are dreamt. I work with the ancestors, I work with all living things that God created, so I work with the ocean. The piece in the other room is homage to the ocean, which is my spiritual mother and to my earth mother that gave birth to me who died last year, and that piece was done for her.”

“So all the pieces are dreamt so they come from the other world … I’m just a vessel that’s used to bring things out into this world. And for some people it heals, some people it’s just to look at when they are ready they’ll go back in their memories to remember what they saw and start to think about it because every living has the energy of God, so we should honour everything. You know the mosquitoes, even though I don’t like them biting me, but they are God’s creatures and I’ll apologise to them before I (hits leg, laughs). So you know, that’s why. These are iconography of divination, they are actual tools that use to divine with for people who want to know what’s going on in their life right now, so that’s why I have to show reverence because there’s a lot of energy in this room. And by tomorrow night at the opening, they will be fully evoked.”

Janelle Chanona
“Tell me about that, evoking that spirit and the ceremony that you were doing.”

Winsom Winsom
“There ceremony I was just doing was just asking them for guidance to lead me into saying the right thing, doing the right thing, I never do anything without asking my ancestors and God to be present.”

Janelle Chanona
“What do you hope that the people that come to your exhibit will walk away with?”

Winsom Winsom
“Love, universal love, agape. Just love, I work with love. Everything I do I try to put love into it. I don’t always do it, but I do try and if I don’t, I ask forgiveness and I try again.”

The art of Winsom Winsom will officially open to the public at seven Friday night. Entrance to the Image Factory is free.