Tyshan Wright: Maroon Hill

MFA Thesis Exhibition, Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Maroon Hill is a research project that examines material and spiritual practices of Jamaican Maroons exiled from Trelawny Town, Jamaica to the British colony of Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1796, and the legacy of these practices on Maroon contemporary craft. The project challenges scholarly notions of framing Maroon culture in the past tense and the Jamaican Maroons’ material culture as “meagre”, investigating the ceremonial and creative practices of Maroons in Jamaica, Nova Scotia, and beyond. Engaging with conversations in visual arts, history, folklore, and anthropology, the project offers a crucial Maroon perspective that, through ceremonial research-creation combining sculpture, textile, photography, and performance art, confronts the dominant cultural narrative at sites where Maroon presence and influence has historically been diminished and devalued. The resulting art installation Maroon Hill invites visitors to the gallery to sit, unravel, and contemplate Maroon narratives alongside the threads of colonialism that connect our individual histories and inform our shared experiences as humans navigating and interrogating postcolonial landscapes.