A walkthrough of Sense of Place
An excerpt from an artist-curator conversation, between Heather Sutherland Wade and Emma Miles, in the midst of the exhibition’s curation.
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22 Jan 2025
EM: Is there a difference in your approach to landscapes versus seascapes?
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HSW: Actually seeing them [landscapes] close up, and stopping and studying them a lot more than I would with seascapes. With these [seascapes], colour seems to propel me, just discovering and exploring colour instead of detail and realism, and being restricted by what actually is. Some beaches are so peaceful like Silver Sands, some are fraught with danger, so much rock, inaccessible.. I think people go to the beach because it has a sense of peace and serenity, and that’s probably what’s taking me back to the beach. It’s the beach that propels me more at this point.
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[While looking at ‘Jeremy’s View Farquharson Beach (2024)’ and ‘Freddie’s Hotspot (2024)’...]
Heather Sutherland Wade, Jeremy's View Farquharson Beach, 2024
Heather Sutherland Wade, Freddie's Hotspot, 2024
​​HSW: Boats have such a grip on me, I am noticing that every beach has its own unique design for boats. These at Old Harbour Bay are how those fishermen at Old Harbour Bay build their boats. It’s fascinating – the colours, the play between the boats, the sand, the negative space, the sea, the beach, the intersecting of the vegetation, while others have no vegetation.
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EM: They [the boats] add a playfulness too with the colours, not typically the colours we see in nature, but they are so embedded in the physical place.
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HSW: Capturing their sense of colour is what I found appealing. Why do they paint these boats these colours? Some are bright, some are more subdued, some are blue. Why paint blue? Suppose you get lost at sea? Maybe they camouflage, so as not to distract the fish.
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EM: An interesting point to raise - how do they decide what colours to go with.. Is this specific to the place? The community?
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HSW: Do they pass down the design? The craftsmanship of the boats is something to highlight, such a distinct and integral aspect of our culture. That’s what brings colour to our beach.
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EM: In most of your artworks, you don't include bodies, faces or figures. I’m curious why you still included the rafter in ‘A Good Day, Rio Grande (2024)’?​​
Heather Sutherland Wade, A Good Day, Rio Grande, 2024
HSW: Maybe because that was part of my experience, actually being on that raft, and to include it meant I needed to include him. He was part of the whole experience... the way he negotiated these rocks. All the reflections of the stones in the water... I was getting carried away with all the possibilities of colour. This guy is just gliding through and he knows exactly which way to take, whether he takes you over this side or close to this rock, why does he go this side? So I was enjoying his skill.. I think what he brought to the table is a very important part of the composition.
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EM: You left the detail on his clothes as well, which I'm curious about because in so much of the composition there’s this blurring, or taking away of elements, and here you actually do see the detail of what he’s wearing.
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HSW: Yes and that's the only detail. Not even the raft has any detail in it, come to think of it, and it’s the most unimportant detail too.
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EM: It’s so unexpected. I’m also curious about this abstract piece, ‘Mysterious (2023)’. We didn't have it in the show last year, but I wanted to include it this time, especially in the entry space.
Heather Sutherland Wade, Mysterious, 2023
​HSW: This was an exercise in colour of a shoreline. Usually when I want to go abstract, I go to water as a basis for that experience to develop. I just started in my usual light and dark and, ok, so I have a coastline to deal with. I just wanted very soft shades of greys, greens, warm yellows.. purely my imagination, I wasn't being inspired by anything, I was enjoying the texture. Mark you, it didn't start off like this. I had lots of stuff in there.. I had to put back, take out. There’s so much experimenting that’s going on in there.. The mass of land, when you see the water area, this confuses you because it doesn't stay blue, it goes yellow.
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EM: You’ve created this archive of different locations around Jamaica..
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HSW: I think what attracted me to these places was the question, why are these places so special to so many? People find rest, serenity, inspiration, lots of emotions; they interact with these locations. What is it about Bob Marley Beach that gets people going there at 6 o'clock in the morning, every Friday or Saturday evening watching the sunset?
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EM: The success of last year’s show included a collection of artworks that you had in the house for the past 20 years. This year’s exhibition is going to feature a lot of new artworks that you’ve worked on in just the past few months...
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HSW: It’s amazing how quickly a year goes by. It took a lot of focus on my part to be able to do that. There’s more landscapes and seascapes. A lot of those studies were just interacting with sea views, seascapes. Almost a year of studying the ocean, water, sea, sky, and really getting to know my blues.
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HSW: When you look at my paintings of my beaches, what do you experience?
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EM: When I see them, because I may connect to the place.. that in itself feels very special. Most of those who get to experience your artwork in Jamaica, are familiar with these spaces, and have a connection in some way. We have become so accustomed to photos on our phones that seeing these places depicted by an artist, especially an artist like you with your level of skill and technique, adds something completely different to our perception. It makes these spaces feel more significant and sacred. It’s archival in nature too. Each day, a place is going to change.. The way you capture it on a specific day or time, it really is a snapshot of that moment.
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HSW: I feel that way when I paint towns or buildings. Looking back now of paintings I did of Duncans in its early days, and other towns with the clock tower in the middle, I'm just thinking of how things are changing so rapidly. You go back and can't even find the clock tower... Billboards, new developments are taking over.
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EM: With towns, it could feel like there’s more of these man-made changes happening, but with our coastlines, it can feel like there’s environmental changes happening on top of that. Even in speaking about Bob Marley Beach... That threat.. In 2, 3, 5 years.. We might not even have access to going there. It could become a memory.
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Heather Sutherland Wade, Net's Drying, 2024
Heather Sutherland Wade, Bob Marley Beach Study 3, 2024