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Racquel Rowe, Artist – Waterloo

Racquel Rowe is an interdisciplinary artist from Barbados currently residing in Canada. She has an MFA from the University of Waterloo and a BA(Hons) in History and Studio Art from the University of Guelph. Her artistic practice and research are continuously influenced by aspects of Caribbean history, matrilineal family structures, diasporic communities, and her upbringing in Barbados. She’s received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, continues to exhibit across Canada, and currently has work showing in the group exhibitions BLACK(Cite) at Gallery TPW in Toronto until June 24, and falling through our fingers at Owens Art Gallery in Sackville until September 17. Solo shows of her thesis exhibition, The Chicken Is Just Dead First, are on display at OPTICA in Montreal until June 17 and at ARTSPLACE in Annapolis Royal, NS, from June 3 until July 29.

  1. Ovaltine

Lately I’ve been having a cup in the morning. It makes me feel like I’m back home, and reminds me of my school days when I’d always have Ovaltine in the morning with breakfast before going to school.

  1. Colour theory

I think about colour all the time and in most aspects of my life – from what I’m eating to clothing to our perceptions of colour to colour as markers of cultural identity.

  1. Swimming

Swimming is one of my favourite activities, and during the winter I was swimming indoors a lot at the YMCA where I live. This experience informed a new work I’m developing, and I got to make friends with a lot of different people who have their own histories and experiences with the water and swimming in general.

  1. Food and Identity in the Caribbean

A really great and informative read that encompasses the Caribbean region in broad strokes, looks at various islands’ relationships to food, identity, colonization, tourism, the present-day problems these things have left us with, and the ingenious ways people are working to keep cultural traditions alive.

  1. The colour pink

Back in January my mum told me that my colour for the year according to my horoscope was pink. It’s one of my favourite colours, so I exclaimed, “Perfect!” I already had pink dishware (having fulfilled one teenage dream). Naturally, I then had to “pink up” my wardrobe and acquire a key piece of pink clothing for each season, right? Pink was supposed to bring me luck, and I think it has. I currently feel very lucky and loved in life.

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