Tracy Moore
Barbadian visual artist Jaryd Niles Morris is preparing for an extraordinary artistic expedition to the Arctic Circle in June 2027, having been selected for an internationally acclaimed artist residency program that challenges participants to create work addressing Arctic themes with global significance.
This polar journey represents the latest chapter in Morris’s transformative artistic evolution, following profound residencies in Senegal and Morocco during 2024 that fundamentally reshaped his creative perspective. His Sahara Desert experience at Café Tissardmine—an artist residency embedded within an Amazigh (Berber) community—proved particularly impactful. “It reset me as a person,” Morris reflects. “Immersing myself within a community that has persevered through millennia of colonial pressure heightened my awareness of my Caribbean identity.”
This awakened consciousness continued during his Senegalese residency, where Morris observed how cultural symbols and belief systems are actively preserved. “African communities maintain powerful connections to their cultural foundations through physical artifacts that constantly reaffirm their values,” he notes. This starkly contrasted with his Barbadian context, where he perceives traditional folk elements sometimes drifting toward entertainment rather than meaningful cultural remembrance.
These comparative cultural observations have directly inspired Morris’s Arctic project: the creation of a groundbreaking cultural character rooted in Caribbean values, environmental stewardship, and collective responsibility. This modern figure—conceived as a cultural vehicle rather than policy document—aims to embed conservation awareness directly into Caribbean cultural consciousness.
“We cherish our beaches and environment,” Morris explains. “This character will encapsulate ideals of activism and ocean conservation, bringing these priorities to the cultural forefront. The goal is integrating conservation into daily life through cultural means.”
Originally discovering the Arctic residency opportunity online, Morris initially felt unprepared until his North African experiences provided the conceptual foundation. “Ironically, Morocco triggered the ideas now carrying me from desert to tundra,” he observes.
Envisioned as a regional collaboration, the project will involve artists across the Caribbean, reflecting Morris’s commitment to pan-Caribbean cultural development. “We share history but not necessarily shared reality,” he notes, emphasizing his desire to create “a Caribbean project, not just Barbadian.”
Morris describes his upcoming Arctic journey as essentially spiritual: “This is a pilgrimage. A Caribbean envoy traveling to the Arctic to witness and comprehend.” During his two-to-three-week residency, his sole expectation remains that the resulting work generates positive global impact.