Fresh Milk is pleased to welcome Barbadian-Canadian visual artist Jordan Clarke as our next international artist-in-residence. Jordan will be on the platform from March 23 – April 17, 2015. Read more below:

As an artist and Barbadian-Canadian who has been removed from the physical geography of Bajan culture, Jordan Clarke wishes to use her residency at Fresh Milk  to discover and explore her Caribbean identity and ancestry. She will have the time and space to focus on her practice, to connect with the Bajan community, and to exchange ideas with local Barbadian artists, especially those dealing with identity politics in their work.

Her mixed-race background has provided her with a distinctive and sensitive perspective on issues of identity and agency, such as the role colour plays in shaping one’s identity, society’s classification of cultural/racial groups, and the limitations of stereotypes and/or pre-determined gender or racial roles. How we perceive ourselves, as well as how we are perceived by others, is an underlying concern of her work. 

During the residency, she would like to explore process, style, and content in her art, using the time to gather information and generate ideas in a new environment; discovering what artistic direction Barbados inspires, rather than producing a final series of paintings.

Using this research as a starting point, Clarke will begin “mapping out” her history, using visual signifiers to create connections and a sense of place, primarily through ‘self-portraiture’ – whether the ‘self-portraits’ are suggestive or literal remains to be seen.

About Jordan Clarke:

Jordan Clarke is a Toronto-based artist. Working in oil paints, Jordan uses the female form to explore themes of self and identity, as well as notions of inner beauty.  A central focus of her work is empowerment through self-representation.

In addition to appearing in solo and group exhibitions in Ontario and abroad, Jordan’s art has been published in the anthology Other Tongues: Mixed-Race Women Speak Out, edited by Adebe DeRango-Adem and Andrea Thompson.  Jordan is a recipient of funding from the Ontario Arts Council.

 In 2008, Jordan studied at the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto, completing the Drawing curriculum.  In 2007, she graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design, receiving a BFA. While attending OCAD, she participated in the off-campus studies program in Florence, Italy, 2005-2006.

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This residency is supported by the Ontario Arts Council.