Crafted Kinship

A visual journey of Caribbean art profiling more than 60 contemporary Caribbean artists, curated by award winning multidisciplinary artist and textile surface designer, Malene Barnett​.

Through powerful interviews with more than 60 artists and designers of Caribbean heritage, accompanied by gorgeous photographs, Crafted Kinship takes readers on a unique journey through the world of Black Caribbean creativity. Each maker crafts a kinship with the land, the people, the culture of their country of origin. Their art explores and reflects deeply on themes like African origins, ancestors, Black womanhood/Black manhood, identity, joy, memory, and the complicated and painful history of migration and diaspora. An art that is more often than not multidisciplinary, created by makers who eschew traditional labels by reshaping the boundaries around art and design.

Curated by Malene Barnett, an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and textile surface designer of Jamaican and Vincentian descent, Crafted Kinship is the first book in which Caribbean makers share the intimate stories of their art-making process and how their countries of origin influence and inform how and what they create. Included are makers working across all mediums. Meet Anina Major, a Bahamian visual artist whose work attempts to reclaim the significance of straw basketry through her ceramics; Basil Watson, a Jamaican figurative artist and sculptor famous for his stunning bronze figures that are exhibited outdoors all over the world; Renee Cox, a Jamaican photographer whose work celebrates Black womanhood; La Vaughn Belle, a multidisciplinary artist from St. Croix who draws from archival sources to interrogate colonial legacies; Sonya Clark, a textile artist and educator of Jamaican, Trinidadian, and Bajan heritage who works with hair and other meaningful materials to explore issues of power, race, and gender; and Nyugen E. Smith, an interdisciplinary artist of Trinidadian and Haitian ancestry whose fluid stream of consciousness is expressed through objects, performance, music, and moving image.

• "This collection of interviews serves as a crucial record of the Caribbean arts and design landscape today and foreshadows the global movements to come…it is essential reading for our time."

  Karen Carter, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Black Artists' Networks in Dialogue

• "Visually stunning, Crafted Kinship by Malene Barnett offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of Black Caribbean artistry. Through compelling interviews and beautiful photographs, featured artists share their cultural background that influences their creative practice. This book serves as a celebration of the rich artistic landscape of the Caribbean."

  Joy Simmons

• "With an exceptional selection of artists who practice with painting, sculpture, video, installation, and beyond, this book presents a kaleidoscopic perspective of contemporary Caribbean art."

  Maria Elena Ortiz, Curator, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

• "Crafted Kinship is a beautifully designed and well-crafted vessel that houses and honors the ancestorial energy of the past. Barnett reminds us that we should never forget the creative ingenuity of the Caribbean diaspora. Despite fragmentation, dislocation, and colonialism, the archive is living and is transmitted through the hands and movement of bodies. The narratives presented are both forms of resistance and celebrations of everyday life."

  Myron M. Beasley, Ph.D., Professor  of American Studies & Curator, Bates College

• "Malene Barnett has once again proven herself to be at the forefront of current efforts to showcase the works, heretofore invisible if not forgotten, of African peoples’ contributions in design. Her book is timely and necessary in promoting creative voices of peoples who have existed since the foundation of creative making who have been, until very recently, lost to history, hidden in plain view."

  Jack Travis, Architect

• "Through a series of endearing and insightful interviews, Malene Barnett’s Crafted Kinship celebrates, acknowledges and challenges the traditions of our foremothers and fathers from the African diaspora who created out of a different kind of necessity. This tome is a celebration of new and seasoned Black creatives from the Caribbean whose work speaks to their search for meaning and inspiration through their heritage."

  Ivy N. Jones, Founder and Director, Welancora Gallery

• "Malene's groundbreaking book serves as a powerful testament to the extraordinary individuals who have shaped the Caribbean diaspora. Each artist’s story within its vibrant and captivating pages resonates deeply. Now, with this newfound inspiration, I am more determined than ever to elevate these artists and their stories to the forefront."

  Mashonda Tifrere, Founder, Art Genesis