How does one move about the world with an imposed identity or one not of their own choosing ?
Imperial ’ s prominent use of the British passport reflects the larger history of British colonization of the Caribbean . Until 1979 , citizens of St . Vincent and the Grenadines , where Holly Bynoe was born , were issued British passports — a marker of the islands ’ 196 years as a colonial territory and the island ’ s lack of sovereignty . In Imperial , Bynoe mines a precious family archive of photographs to compose a singular portrait that is an amalgamation of several family matriarchs . The imagined figure is meant to be opaque , to blend , and disappear . Bynoe then layers onto the composite figure the royal coat of arms emblazoned on the cover of the British passport . Additionally , hints of handwritten bio data taken from passport pages as well as birth papers render this figure legible and stake its dual identities . Bynoe invokes the British passport as a formidable symbol of power . It was then and remains today one of the most powerful passports in the world . With this pairing of an imagined figure with the British passport , Bynoe wades into the tension of what it means to move about the world as both a Caribbean citizen and subject of empire .
The unknowable woman in Imperial wears a blindingly white garment which contrasts the gray and green hues of the industrial and developed background . She is untarnished , while her once green environment is fading away to gray , indicative of the exploitation of the natural resources and land of St . Vincent and the Grenadines . British colonial powers cultivated the land for their cocoa , coffee , cotton , and sugar plantations . Through this lens , Bynoe , who is deeply connected to the regeneration and preservation of the Caribbean environment and landscape , explores the impact of colonialism on not only a person ’ s identity , but on the identity of the land itself .
— Katelyn Donohue Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies , Art History
Holly Bynoe , Imperial , 2010 , digital collage , 60 x 40 inches . Courtesy of the artist . Image courtesy of Holly Bynoe .
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