SHAUNDELL HORTON
Shaundell Horton( b. 1973, Linden, Guyana) is a visual artist who focuses on sculpture and mixed-media hybrids of collage and painting. During her studies at the Nola Hatterman Art Academy in Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname, she developed her art practice as a conversation between her Guyanese heritage and Suriname’ s diversity. Following her study, she expanded this focus by investigating the multicultural essence of the Caribbean as well as that of the Amazon. Horton’ s work records and archives collective heritage. To strengthen the sentimental and demographic value of her work, she selects her material carefully. Tenacious( 2022), for example, explores the ecological essence of life, its cycles, and its dialogue with the afterlife. Within her use of materials, Shaundell highlights a nostalgic quality: her sculpture contains items that deal with encounters between the physical and the immaterial, or the memorial value of existence and transcendence. She has woven driftwood, shells, clay, and beads together to create something new through this artwork. The sculpture embodies an artistic labor that expresses the emotions of those species— including humans— who are dealing with prevailing environmental and social issues.( MIGUEL KEERVELD)
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