Exposed delves into the world of Sarah Joseph, an accomplished Trinidadian contemporary artist who has recently crossed continents to make Sheffield her home. With a background deeply rooted in Trinidad’s rich cultural tapestry, Sarah explains to Ash Birch how her artistic journey and evolving style have been constantly influenced by the environment, emotions and people that surround her.
Can you start by telling us a little about your background and how you got into art?
I’ve always been artistically inclined. As a young person my talent was encouraged by my family and refined by a robust art department at my high school, Holy Name Convent, in Port of Spain, Trinidad. After completing my A-levels, I pursued a BFA in Painting and Set Design at Howard University in Washington DC. I returned home and taught at my alma mater for three years while submitting to group exhibitions and raising my two young children. Around 1999 I began exhibiting, mainly at Horizons Art Gallery – and I continued to exhibit with them for about twenty years. I’ve also exhibited in St. Lucia and Fort Lauderdale.
A Grateful Heart by Sarah Joseph
How has your style developed over the years?
Early in my career, after living in the US to attend university, I returned home and was drawn to the many indigenous festivals that flourish side by side in Trinidad & Tobago’s diverse multicultural society, and I depicted these as well as scenes of everyday life in either watercolour or acrylic on canvas. Over the years, as I began to develop my artistic voice, I chose acrylic as my vehicle and my mode of expression became increasingly semi-abstract. By then, my style was becoming more confident, and I experimented with resist techniques, producing vibrant layers of organic transparencies, which I used to govern the emotional tone of each painting, creating a visual tension with the figures in the foreground. Having mounted several solo shows since then, I now feel a certain freedom in my expression which is leading me down an ever more abstract path.
How would you describe your work?
All my pieces are acrylic on canvas, and while it is continually changing, I would describe my style roughly as stylised figurative painting that employs elements of cubism and symbolism among other ‘isms’. A distinctive feature is an organic pointillist variation that simultaneously renders texture and models the figure. My work, however, continues to evolve.
I Am Serenity by Sarah Joseph
Where do you find inspiration?
My work is typically inspired by cultural expressions, my environment and the emotions evoked on my human journey as I interact with family, friends and strangers alike. I find it cathartic to paint through whatever emotional issues I may be experiencing, and the undeniable reward comes when others tell me that they resonate with a personal issue that I’ve depicted, and how it has helped them to see that they’re not alone.
You moved to Sheffield relatively recently. How’ve you found the art scene in the city?
The Sheffield art scene is dynamic, and I’ve found the artists here welcoming and supportive. I visited Art in the Gardens two years ago, where I met award-winning artist Cath Dunn. Although she hails from Edinburgh, she’s been a Walkley resident for many years and she’s been instrumental in my assimilation into the scene. With her encouragement I joined the Walkley Edge Artists and more recently I was invited to join the Peak District Artisans. It was in setting up a Walkley Edge group exhibition in 2021 that I met Kelham Island art scene stalwart, curator and sculptor Simon Wigglesworth-Baker, who has also been invaluable in helping me navigate my career here. Through him I had a space at the KIAC studios in my neighbourhood, Kelham Island, for Open Up Sheffield earlier this year, an event which contributes greatly to artist exposure in this progressive city.
Release by Sarah Joseph
How does it compare to your birthplace, Trinidad?
While Trinidad’s art scene is also vibrant, it’s not as multi-disciplinary as in the UK and is dominated by painters, more specifically landscape artists. However, due to its smaller size there are fewer opportunities to exhibit. At home I was attached to a very successful commercial gallery, Horizons, run by co-owners Cheryl Blanc and the late Richard Gordon, and over the course of a 20-year stint in their capable hands my career was nurtured and in fact flourished, as I found a group of collectors who warmed to my unusual style and at times emotional subject matter.
Has your move to Sheffield changed how you approach your art or the output?
The drastic change of environment that came from moving to the UK has energised my work greatly. The changing of the seasons, the different type of flora and fauna and even the different quality of light have all influenced my current work significantly. Living in such an artistically supportive environment has given me the courage to push my boundaries and experiment with new techniques. More recently, I felt the freedom to drive my work towards an ever more abstract expression. Having the use of the studio at KIAC has given me the opportunity to work large, something which I’ve been yearning to do since I left home.
In My Skin by Sarah Joseph
What is your take on the city?
Sheffield is an energetic city which champions its creative industries and strives for inclusivity. As such, my husband and I feel so at home in the relatively short period of two years that we’ve been here. We love the northern warmth and generosity of spirit which is so similar to home.
Do you dabble in other forms of creativity?
Yes, I love music and when I was about seven years old I was taught to play a Venezuelan cuatro – a four-stringed musical instrument – by my maternal grandfather. Due to its very close proximity to Trinidad, Venezuelan folk music, called Parranda, became popular during Trinidad’s Christmas celebrations many years ago and is still practiced today. I play our national instrument, the steel pan, on a very amateur level and I also sing in my husband’s studio, mostly jingles.
Triptych Dry Winds At Easter by Sarah Joseph
What pieces are you most proud of to date?
That’s difficult to say as my work continues to develop as I grow artistically. I could tell you instead which pieces are most special to me. I’m always intrigued by a narrative and one of my most significant pieces was a triptych called ‘Dry Winds at Easter’, done in 2014, which was taken from a poem of the same name by an accomplished St. Lucian poet, Adrian Augier. In the lengthy poem, he chronicled the death of his grandmother to cancer, with vivid highlights of her life on earth as her spirit travelled from this world into the next. My husband who is a keyboardist and producer was commissioned by Augier to compose a soundtrack for the poem. While listening to it repeatedly, I became haunted by the words and music and was driven to paint my interpretation of it, which, luckily, the poet was happy with! I went on to interpret two more poems with his permission and the triptych is now happily in his home in St. Lucia. I also value pieces that are able to emerge from deep emotion: an example being ‘Release, done in 2020 during such a painful and turbulent time for the world. I was so acutely affected that I was unable to do much creatively; however, I found it cleansing to paint this piece which represents my letting go of what was constricting my emotional and spiritual growth. Worth mentioning is the first piece that I completed in Sheffield, ‘Autumn Spirit’, which won ‘Best Figurative and Portrait’ at Art in the Gardens 2022.
What’s the best bit of advice you’ve received as an artist?
A more experienced artist told me to keep trying new things and pushing my boundaries artistically, as it keeps the work and the process of creation instinctive.
Sarah Joseph’s next show will take place 1-3 September at Art in the Gardens and then a solo exhibition starting in the second week of September at the Gardener’s Rest, Neepsend.
@sarahjoseph.artist // sarahjoseph-artist.com
