Untitled (Self Portrait I)

Cydne Jasmin Coleby is a digital and mixed media collage artist based in Nassau, Bahamas. Self-reflection is intrinsic to her art practice. Interrogating the unfavourable aspects of her being, she questions their origins, influence, and usefulness. Her findings have led her to an external stressor –– toxic ideals passed down to her through oppressive structures. It is in this societal fabric, often under the guise of tradition, that trauma is used as the binding stitch. Through her graphic collages she examines personal and collective/ancestral relationships to trauma and the ways in which these relationships shape our identity. There’s a fine, and somewhat blurred, line between “informing” and “defining” identity when pertains to ordeals we undergo. Coleby's work aims to explore this grey area, while questioning our ability for healing and to cultivate our individual and collective narratives through these instances.