Annalee Davis lives and works on the former plantation on Barbados where her Creole family resided for generations. Her practice as an artist, writer and cultural organiser is rooted in the lived realities of that land. Davis delves into the colonial past, the legacy of plantation economies, and the racial, class and gender dynamics that shape Caribbean society, paying particular attention to how historical trauma and contemporary life intersect. For over a decade, she has explored strategies for post-plantation restoration, simultaneously weaving together history, economics, agriculture and spiritual awareness, engaging with nature’s wildness and beauty, and delving into the history of the plantation to confront historical violence and explore pathways towards healing.
In Let This Be My Cathedral (2025-2026), developed for Biennale Arte 2026, Davis presents a multimedia installation composed of a wall-based herbarium sourced from plants cultivated in Davis’s home garden, reflecting vernacular Caribbean gardening traditions, alongside a hand-embroidered textile, torch-stencilled palm drawings that cover the floor, and a life-sized reproduction of an Eskimo curlew – a species of bird last observed in 1963 in Barbados and presumed extinct. Designed as a semi-circular haven, the installation aims to transform despair into attentive presence, using extinction as a catalyst for introspection, ethical responsibility and collective action.
—Miguel A. López
