ARTIST STATEMENT

​As a Black queer "Mas Man," I construct contemporary regalia—sculptural Power Objects that examine Black masculinity as a site of spiritual agency, protection, ancestral memory, desire, and celebration. Rooted in an inherited, multi-generational lineage of Trinidadian masquerade makers starting with my grandmother, I weld steel, hand-bend industrial wire, and layer paper, encaustic wax, and carnival adornment to build autonomous armatures for contemporary bodies across all identities and expressions.

​My central proposition is that Trinidadian Carnival Mas is not ephemeral party attire, but a rigorous, museum-worthy fine art form. These works are not costumes awaiting a street parade; they are self-contained, autonomous sculptures that carry formal authority through their material weight, structural tension, and spatial presence.

​Working across hand-bent wire glyphs, translucent encaustic mantles, and assemblages centered on the mitan—the central axis pole of traditional carnival wire construction—I explore the tension between defense and vulnerability. By transforming raw building materials and found industrial hardware into ceremonial structures, I reimagine the body as a site of ritual survival and radical desire.

​Each piece functions as part of a larger system of regalia: a reclaimed visual language of adornment that insists on the sovereignty of the Black body and secures the living tradition of Mas within contemporary art history