CP
Award-winning Visual Artist and Writer
CERENA PARKINSON
Welcome
Genesis- My Self Portrait, 2019
36” x 60”
Oil and Acrylic on Canvas, Seashells,
Beer Caps. Clay, Dried Coconut Husks, Jamaican Household Food Wrappers, Printed Images, Peacock Feathers
Paintings
One One Coco, 2022
30” x 40”
Oil on Canvas, Silver Stud Earring , Synthetic Braided hair
A Long Walk From Home~For my baby sister Anayah , 2019
24” x 36”
Oil and Acrylic on Canvas, Oil Pastels, Texture Paste, Printed Images and Sharpie drawings done by Anayah
Birth of a nation,2020
Birth of A Nation, 2020
30” x 39.5”
Acrylic on Black Board
Collected by The Jamaican Consualte for The 58th Anniversary of Independence
Bless This Likkle Kitchen, 2019
12” x 12”
Acrylic on Glass, Watercolor on paper and Hand Woven Canvas Tapestry
Sculptures
Oh, Nana what have you brought for me? 2021
24” x 37”
Nana’s Basket Mediums: Hand Woven Sugar Cane Trash, Coconut Husks
From my Nana’s bosom came warmth and from her hands she spun gold.
This is for my Nana, a weaver of love and seamstress of life.
Installation Works
Better Together,
2021
2.5” x 3”
Alginate life cast mold negative, Plaster of Paris, rhinestones and makeup
Dada Sun, 2022
16” x 26”
Welded Round Bar Steel refined with silver solder, Basketball hoop woven with Colored Braiding Hair
Tamarind Tree, 2022
Tamarind Tree, 2022
Installation view
Including:
Selah,Ma’m AIYO!,
Mango Oil, A Plain by The Crystal Sea
This installation is a gift to my father’s mother, Hyacinth, the one I call Mama Hyo, who gracefully raised biological and adopted children with wisdom and strength. Her home is more than a composition of brightly painted cement walls, it is a warm embrace overflowing with love and life.
Selah, 2022
The Gates
4’ X 8’
Laser Cut 16 gauge Stainless Steel Sheet Metal, Flat Stock Steel, Round Bar Steel, Square Bar Steel
The Frame
5’ x 10’
2 x 4 Wood beams, Plywood Floorboard, Nails, Door Hinges
Elaborate iron work is a quintessentially Caribbean artform that adorns courthouses and country homes alike. The meanings of these gate designs have roots in Ghanian Adinkra symbols, one such symbol being the Sankofa hearts.
Island welders bring beauty to protective structures, communicating stories about themselves, their commissioners and the nature of their island. This gate is a prayer, sealed with a Jamaican phrase; “Who Jah (God) Bless, No Man Curse”
I am especially thankful for my uncles and father who built this frame with me. My father owned a furniture business in Jamaica and today I continue this legacy of craftsmanship by becoming the first daughter in my generation to weld.
Ma’m AI-YO!, 2022
Bust: 24”
Installation view
Including:
Mango Oil and Selah
Welded Stainless Steel Washers, Round Bar Steel, Spoons, Forks, Angle Iron, Laser Cut Sheet Metal, Square Tube, Braided Hair
A portrait of my Grandmother; Mama Hyo (pronounced Ma’m AI-YO in patois) who keeps a Jar of sweet sticky tamarind by her side. She cares for her tamarind tree with love and it brings forth gifts as sweet as her heart.
Mango Oil, 2019
36 x 36
Acrylic on Canvas Fabric,
African Cloth, Canned Ackee Wrapper, Colored Felt, Feathers, Thread, Dental Floss, Printed Images on Fabric, Ribbons
Named after the Mango and lime oil my mother used in my hair as a child, I associate its scent and this blanket with my earliest and most formative definitions of care and affection. I honor my heritage and my family's migration story in this quilt.
A Plain By the Crystal Sea, 2022
3.4’ x 23.6’
Photographs Printed on Transparency film
Named after the capital of Westmoreland Parish in Jamaica; Savnna La Mar. These photos were taken in my grandmother’s home upon my arrival and departure. Westmoreland is a significant part of my heritage; My bloodline runs in the mountains and by the sea. I slept beside Mama Hyo at night when I went to see her. We drifted off to sleep talking about life’s hills and gullies.She shows me what it means to be a survivor,One whose heart is not hardened by the trials of life.
Tamarind Tree,2022
Installation video
Utica AVE, 2022
Dolla vans, street vendors, taxi drivers, and hoop dreamers make the Utica Avenue strip what it is. With missions on their minds, the bustling street is never short of a dominoes game or the sounds of midnight that fade into sanguine skies. Utica Avenue has seen life, it has seen death and only time knows the sunrises yet to come.
Utica Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 2022
Installation view
Including:
One One Coco, Walk Good, Gi MI Brawta!
Gi Mi Brawta!, 2022
Acrylic On Crate Crate size 10” x 13”
Dominoes, Acrylic Paint, Braided Hair,
Included: Better Together, 2021
Walk Good, 2021
Womens Sneaker
Deconstructed Basketballs,Cardboard,
Cotton ball soles,Hot glue, Caulk, Dice, Sequins, Rosary beads,
Cowrie shells, Deconstructed white tank tops, Feathers
Silver nails, Red Durag
Video Artwork
Something has been done (My letter to Michael Brown), 2021
A young man whose life was taken by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. Although I did not know him in life, Michael reminds me of the young black men I call brothers, and I seek to appreciate them for who they are.
To a young man who beat the odds. We graduated and did something many people dream of. Although the cruelty of this world cut your journey short, I will never forget you. I will always remember you as a brother, a bright and shining star.
I dedicate this to my grandparents who walked so I could soar.
For My MokoDove, 2022
Assistant Director
Anayah Parkinson
My sister Anayah is my Moko Dove. A Moko is a deity embodied by moko jumbies; those who walk stilts in homage to the great spirits who crossed the Atlantic to the Caribbean. My sister and I are Moko Jumbies and a true jumbie is courageous, observant, and sensitive. All the people in this film embody a piece of the moko jumbie and I admire them for it.
I dedicate this to my community members, friends, neighbors and the Kaisokah Moko Jumbies USA organization, our stilt family, who keep the practice of the moko jumbie alive abroad.
To stream this video please contact the artist at cparkinson6068@gmail.com
Thank You