Suchitra Mattai is a multi-disciplinary artist who lives and works in Denver, Colorado. Suchitra was born in Guyana, South America, but has also lived in Halifax and Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Philadelphia, New York City, Minneapolis, and Udaipur, India. These diverse natural and cultural environments have greatly influenced her work and research.
While her practice includes a wide range of materials and ideas, her primary interests include 1) the complex relationship between the natural and artificial worlds and 2) the questioning of historical and authoritative narratives, especially those surrounding colonialism. Through painting, fiber, drawing, collage, installation, video, and sculpture, she weaves narratives of “the other,” invoking fractured landscapes and reclaiming cultural artifacts (often colonial and domestic in nature).
SONY DSC
“My paintings, drawings and installations center on the general themes of identity and globalization through the trope of landscape. Drawing from memory, history, travel, and pop-culture, I employ bright bold colors and patterns to ignite otherwise barren, abstract, and often highly conceptualized landscapes. While these landscapes are unpopulated, their mountains, oceans, plains, and cities often bear the trace of human activity. The embroidered elements allude to the work of the “other,” referencing the creations of “women” and “sweat-shop workers.”
Suchitra received an MFA in Painting and Drawing and an MA in South Asian art, both from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. She has exhibited her work in Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, DC, Minneapolis, Denver, Austin, Berlin, London, and Wales and her work has appeared in various publications such as The Daily Serving (Mailee Hung), New American Paintings, and will be in a forthcoming book, “A Collection of Contemporary Women’s Voices on Guyana,” (Grace Anezia Ali, Brill Press)
SONY DSC
Suchitra’s next projects include collaborations with the Denver Art Museum/SkyHouse, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, and a traveling exhibition with the Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC. She recently completed a residency at RedLine Contemporary Art Center, Denver, and is represented by K Contemporary Gallery Denver, and GrayDuck Gallery, Austin.
Cloyette Harris-Stoute is a proud Guyanese based in Queens, New York. She's the founder of the Guyanese Girls Rock Blog, Founder & President of Guyanese Girls Rock Foundation, Inc. and Owner of Guyanese Girls Rock Apparels. A self-professed techie, she's an IT Manager at a prestigious New York City Hospital. She also owns her own fine jewelry business, Twin Elegance.
Keisha Scarville is an accomplished and talented fine arts photographer. Born in 1975 to a Guyanese father and mother, she self-defines as Guyanese-American. Keisha spent her childhood in Brooklyn after her parent migrated to the United States in the late 1960s. She will be the first to admit that within the walls of her childhood home, her experience was still a Guyanese-centered one. Keisha earned a B.S. from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in…
Born in Guyana, South America, Denise Henley first realized her artistic passion at the tender age of eight. She spent much of her young life immersed in drawing. As an adolescent, she moved to the United States to study art and after obtaining a B.A in Visual Arts, went on to pursue a career as an artist. While she works in several mediums and subject-matters, Denise passion lies in capturing the beauty of the human figure….
Afuwa Granger is a visual artist, writer, and poet who uses her work to construct a visual language around intersections of identity, particularly race and gender. She was born in Guyana to current President, David Granger and First Lady, Sandra Granger. Afuwa studied in Jamaica at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, and lives and creates her artwork in Vancouver, Canada. Afuwa’s art is based on her family photos and the idea of the immigrant…
