FOR a lot of persons, 2020 promised to be a year of endless opportunities. Local artist Dominique Hunter was working towards five exhibitions this year, one locally and four abroad. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, everything has been postponed indefinitely. As an artist, she depends heavily on exhibitions abroad as it is by this means she can sustain a full-time art career. Despite the current situation she continues to work; she is also preparing for her second solo exhibition slated for 2022.

A few weeks ago, I came across one of her pieces on Instagram which piqued my interest. The mixed-media collage is entitled, “Where there’s Smoke…” Dominique explained that the art piece is part of a series titled Cusp that began in 2017, where she examines issues of migration. Focusing on the concept of “here” and “there” she takes a binary opposition approach (a system used to explore differences between different groups of individuals and what can result from those perceived differences).

She further explained that within the Caribbean context, there is a distorted perception that stems from how the region’s residents are trained to consider their own local space. (i.e. anywhere else is better than “here”). Her work examines how we navigate those spaces (“here” and “there”); what we take with us; what gets left behind; the artificial systems designed to control our individual and collective movements; and the emotional responses triggered as a result of these. Dominique’s work is inspired by surrealism, abstraction and other elements that are not art related.

As I look at the art piece, I’m intrigued by the composition. The combination of colours and the grayscale attracts one’s attention. In the centre, the figure appears to be in a fantasy. She is on the outside looking in and appears completely oblivious to danger. There is smoke behind her and just to the right, a figure lurking in the shadows waiting to strike.

There is a phrase that says, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” in my opinion, Dominique uses the smoke as an analogy for the anxiety that precedes migration. The vines symbolise the process of uprooting. In this process, some parts of us remain connected to the space and the things we leave behind. It is only natural that after occupying a particular space we grow roots. The question is, what drives one from their homeland, as well as what keeps one psychically tethered to it?

“Where there’s smoke…” causes me to ponder on [sic] the predicament of persons stranded in another country during this pandemic. Their heart desires to return home. I can only imagine the anxiety they are feeling about the safety of their homes, the well-being of their pets, unfinished business, financial security, separation from loved ones, and so much more… I am so grateful to be home in this season. Unlike the notion within the Caribbean that anywhere else is better than “here,” I dare say, “there is no place like home.”

In closing, Dominique states that she uses many recurring elements. These elements function as metaphors and are deliberately used to suggest multiple meanings. She hopes this would allow the work to be read several ways so that there’s not one fixed meaning or interpretation.