Les Derrieres
April 2019
As the name translates, the “Backsides” or “Bottom”, sustains itself as a symbol of culture, power, and beauty. Across sexualities, genders and preferences, the allure of the Backside to captivate an audience through movement and/or physical appearance contributed to the conception of this series.
The extent of my curiosity peaks in its collective perception. I grew up understanding the bigger and rounder the bottom, the more intriguing it was to both males and females. The validation of our physicality as I understood it was: increase the size and form of the Backside to increase sexual appeal. Overtime, this formula transformed into expectations. Expectations that set a specific standard for derrieres. My collection artistically represents culture, power and beauty as it is in the eyes of the beholder.
Michelle Drummond’s artwork exudes the true expression of life and exuberance of a woman from the islands. Her manipulation of multicolored strings and incorporating acrylic paint on canvas was a different and exciting take on expressing her creativity. Her work has evolved over the years into creative expressions that exude a mélange of her experiences living here in the United States and the exuberance of the Jamaican culture she grew up in. She creates artwork that is thought provoking, leaving viewers to their own interpretation.
