Leo Aguirre was born in El Paso, Texas. After experimenting with a variety of mediums, he decided to pursue film. His film career began at the age of 16 in the island of Aruba where he produced his first two films, Siblings (2012) and Back of Beyond (2013). Aguirre is currently studying film at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2014, El Fuego Detrás, his third and most recent short film, received its debut at the Cannes Film Festival. All three of his short films have gone on to screen at international film festivals and have garnered jury and audience awards.

Simone Asia is an illustrator who was born in May, 1990 in Bridgetown, Barbados. From 2006-2011, Padmore attended the Barbados Community College (BCC) where she received her Associate’s Degree in Visual Arts and her Bachelor of Fine Arts. Attending BCC allowed her to develop a stronger sensibility for drawing and a love for pen and ink also known as Simone Asia, is an illustrator who was born in May, 1990 in Bridgetown, Barbados. From 2006-2011, Padmore attended the Barbados Community College (BCC) where she received her Associate’s Degree in Visual Arts and her Bachelor of Fine Arts. Attending BCC allowed her to develop a stronger sensibility for drawing and a love for pen and ink.

Razia Barsatie is a visual artist who was born in Paramaribo, Suriname. While studying at the Gerrit Rietveld  Acadamy in Amsterdam, she participated in numerous art shows and events. She is currently collaborating with Marcel Pinas in the Triennial Moengo Festival in Suriname and teaches at the Nola Hatterman Art Academy there. Through her creative practice, Razia provides a radical formulation of a kind of personal embarrassment by simply talking about it. She is happy to describe this problem as domestic, but the basic issues she is dealing with concern (repressed) fear of emotions and culturally defined power structures that dominate daily life. Razia utilises artistic and cultural intelligence to counter the almost immovable, restrictive morality of day-to-day life, reaching out for change with an open mind.

Natusha Croes was born in Aruba in August 1991. Early exposure to music, dance and theatre would later inform her various forms of artistic expression. While still a teenager Croes attended Ateliers ’89 for a year, participating in rigorous workshops hosted by teachers and curators from diverse backgrounds and media. Following that she pursued a Bachelor in Fine Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. Croes is currently a final year student at the department of Audio Visual.

Ronald Cyrille is a young artist of Guadeloupean and Dominican heritage who practices painting, street art, sculpture, drawing, performance and other artworks. After completing his Master of Art (2012), he has shown work in several group and solo exhibitions. In 2012 he was announced the winner of the Prix Start, Conseil Départemental de la Guadeloupe, in Visual Arts.

Leasho Johnson was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica on December 5, 1984. He graduated from the Edna Manley School of the Visual and Performing Arts in 2009 with a degree in Visual Communication. Social commentary is an integral part of his work. He believes the contradictions encountered while living in Jamaica need to be highlighted and explored. Johnson often juxtaposes cartoons with realistic imagery since the approachable nature of cartoons enables him to break down contentious, often disturbing issues and make them seem harmless, even comedic and in the end more palatable.

Alex Kelly is a contemporary artist living and working in Trinidad and Tobago. He recently graduated from The University of the West Indies, St Augustine with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. During the course of his study Kelly participated in several public art projects including the mural “Hope” at the Family Development and Children’s Research Centre, St Augustine, for which he acted as co-facilitator. He also participated in an art outreach program at Mayaro Government Primary School, Trinidad and Tobago, which formed part of a collaboration between The University of the West Indies and the Bridge Foundation; and a collaboration with the College of Science Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago to design a  fundraising campaign for the creation of new student bursaries at the institution.

Manuel Mathieu was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in the year of the Haitian revolution that marked the end of the Duvalier era. He was named after the novel Gouverneurs de la rosée (Master of the Dew) a Classic of Haitian Literature. He completed his Bachelor degree in Visual and Media Arts at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) in December 2010. He currently lives in London where he is doing a Master in fine arts at Goldsmiths University of London.Mathieu’s work has been exhibited in Haiti, Montreal, the United States, France and in several international fairs. In 2012 he presented the exhibition Premices/Open Ended at MAI, and published his first monograph, Abysse/Abyss. His work has also been presented at the Museum of the Americas in Washington, the Museum of Civilisation and more recently at the Grand Palais in Paris. Mathieu lives and works between Montreal and London.

Jodi Minnis was born in New Providence, The Bahamas in January 1995. Minnis is the Assistant Curator of the Central Bank of The Bahamas and the Pro Gallery, the College of The Bahamas. Minnis is also the Gallery Assistant of The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas. She was one of the recipients of the Popop Junior Residency Prize (2014). In February 2015, she represented Bahamian master artist, Kendal Hanna at VoltaNY.

Aiko Maya Roudette is a visual artist, poet and filmmaker from the island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. She was born in 1990 in England, but moved to the Caribbean when she was only a few months old. As her mother is an artist, she grew up in an environment steeped in creativity. In 2013 she received her B.A. in Film Production from Bard College, in upstate New York. She has since screened work in London, Nevis, Trinidad, St. Vincent, Toronto and New York City among others, and has had work included in permanent online collections. She currently lives in New York City where she is pursuing her masters and is employed as a freelance video editor. She was drawn to film as a principle way to effect ideology due to its nature as a medium of mass communication.

Marvi Johanna Franco Zapata was born in 1985 in Cali, Colombia. In 1993 she emigrated to Curaçao. She completed a Fine Arts preparatory course at Instituto Buena Bista (IBB), Curaçao in 2007. From then until 2012 she studied Fine Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. After completing her studies Zapata returned to Curaçao, where she is currently living and working.

---

Critics

Diego Espinosa is a multi-percussionist/sound artist dedicated to expand the boundaries of contemporary performance practice through sound exploration. His works and experimentations with a wide range of visual artists, music technologists and theatrical/physical percussion repertoire has led him to focus a great deal of energy on projects wherein the visual component of a composition is as important or even equal partner to the music.

Natalie McGuire is a Barbadian Art Writer whose MA at The University of Auckland is a thesis deconstructing Caribbean diasporic representation in museums. She is on the board of the Fresh Milk Arts Platform Inc. in Barbados, is on the committee of the West Indian Society in Auckland, and has regularly contributed to publications such as ARC Magazine and AICA Southern Caribbean. She co-curated the Caribbean Community Day at The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and currently is on the project team for Transoceanic Visual Exchange.