This series of photographs were made during a short visit to the East coast of the U.S.A, where I stayed with family in Bridgeport Connecticut and visited N.Y.C intermittently. During one of my pilgrimages to the Harlem based Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library I linked up with Isaiah Blake alongside his comrade Saida Blair.
We had an engaging discussion and lunch centred around all things Black Geographies, and we did this within tie site-specific geographies of the Schomburg Center’s small garden space. Paying homage to Harlem’s future, past and present enlivened Black geographies, I’ve long played with the visual motif of or the notion of the ‘rose that are from concrete’. For me it is a metaphor for the livelihoods of young Black people who beautifully live out their days in violent cities and geographies, that would potentially see them cut down in their prime and yet they live one against the odds. Put this visual motif into dialogue with a a portrait of Isiah, who I was honoured to be in discussion with as well as a portrait of the two of use together made by Saida Blair, I present Eastcoast Roses.
Drawn out from an auto-ethnographic practice-based project entitled: Kings Hill, Dominica: Framing Ideas of Home, Heritage and Belonging [working title].
[KEW GARDENS, DOMINICA’S BOTANIC GARDENS AND MARTINQUES JARDIN DE BALATA GARDENS]
Shot in London in March 2024 as a way to practise my photography with tropical plants, these initial photographs of Kew Gardens Palm House will be complemented by a series of photographs made with Dominica’s Botanic Gardens. This collection of photographs will also draw on a developing Global Black Geographies auto-ethnographic project I am committing to with the locale of Kings Hill Dominica and Dominica’s own respective Botanic Gardens.I am interested in exploring King’s Hill due to my unexplored familial connections to the locale. King’s Hill is my mother's former home before she migrated to the U.K. It is also currently a home to extended family who remain to live on the island. The creation of a geographic practice-based body of work is the primary aim of this project, which I intend to freely share with archives/libraries in Dominica and the U.K.
Comprised by 40 acres of former sugar cane plantation fields to the east of Roseau, Dominica’s Botanic Gardens were set up by a series of British and Kew Gardens based curators who travelled to the island in the 1890s to orientate the gardens towards economical and experimental activities through the cultivation various ornamental plants, whose origins spread across the globe. My practice-related approach to this auto-ethnographic body of work will see me explore framing ideas of home, heritage and belonging through a visual attendance to Dominica’s natural and man-made landscapes.
Dominica’s original name is ‘Waitukubli’ which means ‘tall is her body’ and this name was bestowed upon the island by the indigenous Kalinago people. These photographs serve as a means of visually attending to Dominica’s natural landscapes and the locale of Kings Hill. Kings Hill Dominica is a small suburban community located beside Dominica’s capital of Roseau. Kings Hill is also the locale that my family have called home since the early 1960s and it is where I stayed for 31 days earlier during April/May in 2024. This locale was named in honour of the monarch of the day King George III and part of this hill (Morne Bruce Viewpoint) was used as the location of a British military garrison.At the foot of Kings Hill resides a catholic cemetery, a savannah and Dominica’s National Botanic Gardens, from which you can walk into Roseau, Dominica’s capital city. Prior to being a locale occupied by the botanical gardens which are usually spaces associated with green imperialism and colonialised inceptions, the 40 acres of land that makes up the gardens were previously a part of the Bath and Rose Hill sugarcane estate and former plantation.
Nathaniel Télémaque AKA St.Peso is a North West London-born and raised visual artist, writer and researcher who photographs, films, records and writes about ‘everyday things’ in various urban and natural settings. Bearing witness to mad cities, poetic caribbean landscapes and maverick livelihoods inspires his audio-visual practices. His lenses focus on the experiences of young Black adults, creative peers and the ordinary moments that make up our day to day lives. He completed his Geography (practice-related) PhD at University College London in 2023 and currently works as a Lecturer in Geography and Social Justice at King’s College London University.
As a member of the Pesolife Art Collective, he also produces and curates various projects with Pesolife collaborators Secaina Hudson & Kalina Blaize - who are both multi-talented singers, songwriters and music producers. Frequently collaborating on distinct projects together, the Pesolife Art Collective is committed to substantively engaging with it’s audio/visual practices alongside collaborations with educational institutions, companies, community groups, and creative peers.
The Pesolife Art Collective has been commissioned by various groups and organisations, such as The Victoria and Albert Musuem, The Southbank Centre, The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), Ableton, Metroland Cultures, Birmingham City University, UCL, Brent 2020 and Nike. Through a combination of St.Peso’s visual arts practices in photography and self-publishing the Pesolife Art Collective has also published a series of photobooks and zines, which have led to the organisation of exhibitions and installations.
Please contact:hi@pesolife.com for Photography/Research related enquiries.