Simonette Quamina
b. 1982, Ontario, Canada; lives and works in New York, NY
Using hand-manipulated materials and a sophisticated combination of drawing, collage,and printmaking techniques, such as woodcut, collagraph, embossed print, frottage, and monoprint, Simonette Quamina creates works on paper that are simultaneously delicate and monumental. Referring to her personal history growing up between Canada, Guyana, Saint Vincent, and the United States, Quamina’s artworks suggest elusive narratives involving childhood and nature. She combines detailed areas that are decidedly figurative with others that are semi-abstract in their use of patterns, textures, and architectural surfaces. dutty-tuff: omens of things to come is a new work created for La Trienal that refers to the coming of age of her grandfather as a child laborer in the sugarcane fields of Guyana. Through such works, says Quamina, she aims to “explore and challenge some preconceived, romanticized ideas of the Caribbean.”