Meet Shari Phoenix | Barbadian Contemporary Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shari Phoenix and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shari, why did you pursue a creative career?
I always wanted to become an Artist from a very young age. It was either that or a veterinarian. However after a crushing defeat by the sciences, i decided to fully commit to being an artist and took steps towards that goal, such as completing both my Associates’ degree and Bachelor’s degree at the Barbados Community College. Connecting with my passion for creating complex and intricate pieces of art.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My work uses carnival as theorized by Mikhail Bakhtin as a free space of transformation to challenges ideas of perfection and beauty using eve as an archetype for all women. Eve’s body is then transformed by the use of carnival costumes creating a dualism between in her before and after the fall of man. It also comments on the dualism of medieval carnival and Barbados’ Cropover festival(Grand Kadooment). I am incredibly proud of the development of this body of work as it took an insane amount of research to develop. Professionally i am still trying to find my way and develop, at the current moment i am workin hard trying to build my body of work and create my portfolio. One challenge i did face was getting back into work upon leaving college, there was a lack of drive however i knew i would eventually get back into it. I have learned that art is hard and expensive especially living in a country where art is seen as an habit and there are limited supplies you can possibly get to work with. I would like the world to know that anything can be beautiful, regardless of if that anything makes you look or act different. My work challenges the societal standard of beauty in the most extreme and grotesque way and speaks to my insecurities of wanting to be beautiful and denying the fact that i am regardless of how i look.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The first place we would have to hit up is Cheffette, no doubt about that. The beach is a must as well An island drive. Barbados Museum St. lawrence’s Gap Limegrove KFC Mojo’s Poetry Lime Mahalia’s corner

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Some credit is due to the Tutors and fellow students at the Barbados Community College for pushing me to my limits and believing that i can accomplish amazing things.

Instagram: shariphoenix