bio
Gesiye (b. 1992, Trinidad & Tobago) is an interdisciplinary artist who works with individuals and communities using performance, tattooing, installation and image-making to explore embodiment and storytelling as forms of liberation. Based between Port of Spain and London, her practice is rooted in themes of connection and belonging, and examines the colonial histories, socio-cultural symbols and power dynamics that impact our relationships with self, state and land. Drawing inspiration from Caribbean mythology, ritual and oral history traditions, Gesiye’s work facilitates encounters between the individual and the community & between the body and the land.
Gesiye received her BA in Visual Arts from Columbia University (2015) and her MFA from Slade School of Fine Art, UCL (2026). She has shown work and performed at a number of international spaces, including FiveMyles, the Barbican, Express Newark, the Whitechapel Backyard Biennial, Alice Yard, WhiteBox Gallery and the National Museum of Trinidad & Tobago. She has been awarded creative grants and commissions from institutions such as Express Newark, The National Museum of Wales, Joseloff Gallery, CATAPULT and The Global Fund for Women. Her work has been featured by the BBC, The Guardian TT, Newsday, Loop News and Whitehot Magazine and published in two books, Undead: (Inter)(in)animation, Feminisms, and the Art of War and Human Marks: Tattooing in Contemporary Art.
My creative practice is spiritual, joyful and intuitive. Drawing inspiration from the land, mythology, ritual and oral history traditions, I explore personal and collective stories and the implications of symbolic power. I have a deep love and respect for the earth and work towards a post-capitalist world in which sustainable care for our communities, rest and love are prioritized.
pronouns she/they