Please introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about where in the region you are based, and share some of the major ideas and themes you engage with in your practice.
My name is Shamika Germain. I am a visual artist from Saint Martin, currently based in Guadeloupe. My work is rooted in an intimate and political exploration of wounded childhoods, absent bodies, and invisible memories particularly those of children placed in social care institutions.
My artistic process involves installation, sculpture, photography, video, and the collection of life stories. I work with symbolic materials such as rebar, glass, and fabric to address themes of fragility, violence, disappearance, but also resistance.
One of the central themes in my practice is the experience of children under the care of Child Protective Services (ASE in France), who often face emotional ruptures, institutional trauma, and social invisibility. Through my work, I aim to give form to silence, to ghosts, and to forgotten memories. My research is also anchored in postcolonial histories and collective Caribbean narratives, with a strong focus on mechanisms of survival, resilience, and creation.
How has your experience undertaking an international residency, alongside fellow artist, Samuel Gelas impacted your art practice, and how has the time spent overseas been valuable since receiving the TENDER grant – has collaborating and spending time outside of the region affected how you engage with the very sensitive and personal themes in your work?
The TENDER grant allowed me to take part in a residency in Venice. This opportunity was incredibly valuable, as it enabled me to develop a new series of works using Murano glass, centered around the symbolism of the breast and milk recurring motifs in my practice that reflect on maternal absence, nourishment, and trauma.
Working in the Murano glass studios gave me the chance to experiment with transparency, fragility, and fluidity in a way that deeply resonated with the themes I explore. Thanks to this grant, I was able to focus fully on the creation of these new pieces and push my practice technically and conceptually.
Alongside Samuel Gelas, we also developed a new collaborative installation during our time in Venice, expanding our dialogue around Caribbean identities, memory, and resistance. This experience outside of the region offered us both critical distance and new perspectives, allowing us to re-engage with personal and sensitive themes from a refreshed and expanded artistic position.
In addition to initiatives like TENDER, what other kinds of support or programming geared towards the needs of contemporary creative practitioners would you like to see implemented in the Caribbean?
In addition to initiatives like TENDER, I believe it is essential to implement long-term support programs for contemporary artists in the Caribbean. This means going beyond occasional exhibitions to provide regionally grounded residencies with access to production spaces, research opportunities, critical mentorship, and artistic guidance. Many artists work in precarious or isolated conditions, and we need stable environments to experiment, exchange, and deepen our practices.
I would also like to see the development of intra-Caribbean mobility programs that allow artists to move between islands, cross linguistic and colonial borders, and build strong regional networks. These exchanges are crucial to strengthening our creative ecosystems and affirming a plural Caribbean voice that is independent from European or North American institutional circuits.
Finally, I believe it’s important to include psychological and social support, especially for artists working with sensitive, intimate, or trauma-related subjects. We need safe and ethical spaces to create without burning out spaces that allow our practices to heal, reflect, and transform.
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