Caribbean Artist Sheena Rose Transforms Challenges into Artistic Creation
Sheena Rose, a visual artist born and raised in Barbados is making a global impact. Her Caribbean heritage has significantly inspired her work as all her pieces retain aspects of her culture in many ways."As a Black Caribbean woman from Barbados, I am both questioning and stating my identity, race, gender, and sexuality openly," says Sheena.
The artist has a multi-disciplinary practice and her artwork embodies all mediums such as paintings, drawings, performance art, new media, public art, and mixed media. Rose is admired internationally and featured in many media, newspapers, and magazines, book covers such as The New York Times, Travel & Leisure Magazine, and Vogue.
Rose’s pieces also depict her life through her perspective while highlighting raw emotion and personal challenges."I am looking for a narrative which is mirroring the bizarre world we are currently living in," says Rose.
Just as raw and unfiltered as her art, the artist is an open book. She voices inner challenges publicly in efforts to push and inspire others. During the pandemic, Rose was diagnosed with high-risk lupus, an auto-immune disease which causes the body to attack itself. "The pandemic has given me the time to reflect, reject, and respond to this space," says Rose.
Her journey through lupus and the pandemic reflected a great amount in her work, pushing a new discovery among herself with every drawing and brush strokes. "I have learned so much about myself and decided to incorporate my journey through the unpredictable nature of Lupus into my work...imagining Lupus as a space that the beings are living in and in which they must respond," says Rose.
Rose is not only a contemporary artist, but also a proactive activist and savvy businesswoman. She officially started her company called Sheena Rose Inc. and won the DSM Public Art Foundation commission to design 7 bus shelters in 6th Avenue Corridor, Iowa USA, and many other art projects to develop in the near future.
Although the pandemic dramatically changed the world and how we live, Rose is on a mission to highlight the power of accepting yourself for who you are."The pandemic has revealed so much about our human condition. It is a restructuring and acknowledging of the structural positions of race, class, gender, sexuality, and social space," she revealed.
Rose’s challenges never stop her from doing what she loves and are always channeled into her creations.
Even through global circumstances while fighting an autoimmune disease, her drive to inspire people through artwork continues. "These times have shown me the importance of healing, understanding, and accepting oneself. It has greatly taught me about the appreciation for and delicacy of life, Self Care, and Self Love," she shared.
Learn more about Sheena Rose while discovering our favorite pieces, here.
