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Arts & Culture: Heather Doram

from Antigua & Barbuda THE CITIZEN, page 67

Article from: Antigua & Barbuda THE CITIZEN

All hands back on deck

Multitalented Heather Doram, MFA, GCM, has been described as a national treasure and we would tend to agree. Both a veteran and Antigua & Barbuda’s leading contemporary artist, she is also an actress, educator and activist as well as the designer behind Antigua & Barbuda’s national dress. Heather believes in art as a catalyst of change. “We have the power to raise consciousness, stimulate debate, and promote change,” she says. “My work, which incorporates traditional women’s techniques, like sewing, has a rich sense of place, and explores being black and female in a world that centres males.”

Her sense of purpose notwithstanding, Heather loses herself in the creative process, open to intuition and to “playful abandon”. She completed her Masters’ at one of the US’s leading art institutes, the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). There, she was named in the Who’s Who in American College Universities and her art was selected to represent the college at the Venice Biennale. Not only that, but the college also purchased almost her entire thesis show for its permanent collection.

Heather’s work celebrates womanliness while also acknowledging its complexity. Most emblematic of this has been her signature show Strength of a Woman. But it runs throughout all of her major series. “My pieces acknowledge femininity, sexuality, nurturing, identity, aging, women’s roles in society, and the wonder of creation,” the artist explains. Her Grand Cross of the Most Illustrious Order of Merit was bestowed in 2002 for her contribution to the arts. And although she retired in 2006 after peaking as culture director, she continues to blaze a trail for other artists, especially for girls and women.

**"Peace in a Pandemic" by Heather Doram**

To view more of Heather's work:

www.facebook.com/heatherdoramartist & www.instagram.com/hdoramart

This article is from:

Antigua & Barbuda THE CITIZEN

by Antigua & Barbuda | THE CITIZEN