Dominique Hunter:
Limited Edition Tote Bag

Artist multiple in an unnumbered edition of 95.
Printed by Private Press Printing
$50 plus HST

Available in person at the gallery as of March 6

Often composed of intricate designs and a surrealist aesthetic, the paintings, collages, and digital artworks of Dominique Hunter probe local and external perceptions of the Caribbean region, especially Black female bodies within it. She builds her artworks by referencing magazine images and looking to her own body, as well as her environs, such as the morning glory vine that has become a recurring motif in many of her works such as in Field of Dreams, 2019, pictured above. Hunter’s images include markers of a place while simultaneously being untethered to a clear location, suggesting possibilities of both transformation and escapism. She has noted that residents in the Caribbean are often brought up to think that anywhere else is better than where they are; she pushes against this notion by living in and creating work in her home country of Guyana.

Through residencies and other opportunities, Hunter engages in what she calls “mini migrations,” where she uproots herself and resettles in new locations for brief periods of time. These temporary movements, and the material she encounters during them, have come to inform her practice. On residency in Aruba in 2016, she was intrigued by the prevalence of decorative Spanish tiles found in the architecture of many of Aruba’s buildings. The bold colours and abstracted designs have become part of works like Field of Dreams and have also lent themselves to new bodies of work.

In being invited to create an artwork that would be a visual design for a limited-edition Goldfarb Gallery tote bag, Hunter has returned to referencing Spanish tiles. An apt reference for an item meant to assist someone on the move, these ceramic tiles encapsulate histories of transformation and movement. Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic motifs all influenced the design of early Spanish tiles created in the Iberian Peninsula. As Spain built its colonial empire, these tiles became prominent within the architecture of their colonies and were eventually adapted locally. For The Goldfarb Gallery tote, Hunter’s image is a simplified geometric design whose forms and colours reference the vegetation, sand, sky, and sea of the Caribbean.

Stop by the gallery to see her new bold design in person and to purchase this one-of-a-kind functional work of art.

Dominique Hunter (1987) is a mixed-media visual artist born and based in Guyana. She received her BFA from Barbados Community College in 2015 where she was the recipient of the Leslie’s Legacy Foundation Award for Most Outstanding Work at Portfolio. Hunter has exhibited in countries across the Caribbean as well as in the United States and has participated in numerous residencies, such as Caribbean Linked IV, Aruba, and the Vermont Studio Center, USA. Hunter’s artwork is held in several prestigious collections, most notably the Barbados National Art Gallery and Castellani House, Guyana’s National Art Gallery.