Why do I call myself Djibo Art?

I first heard the name when I was a child. My mum told me that in her ‘old’ language it means ‘many lights’. I took the name because I like to play with light in my paintings. I know that Djibo is a town in northern Burkina Faso, West Africa, not far from the frontier with Mali. Recently I started doing a bit of reading on the region and its people, wondering if there is an ancestral connection between my art and my family’s roots in that part of the world. Wouldn't it be fascinating to find out more!?

About Me?

I grew up in North Yorkshire as part of a large Caribbean family. My passion for making things and painting on almost anything - kitchen towels, canvas, wood, concrete - blossomed from an early age and as I grew up it became a conduit for life’s stresses and challenges. I’d return to my art whenever I found myself needing a sanctuary and a reprieve from pressure.

I’ve always been a bit of a magpie of cultural influences. I remember being totally fascinated at school by Neolithic cave paintings, Art Deco, West Indian and African art. My life and work has taken me to France, Canada, Italy, Turkey, Bulgaria to name a few, and everywhere I find something local to be fascinated by.

Painting has always been the key to who I’m today. Painting for me is storytelling. The story takes precedent over shapes and colour. Also, painting is like dreaming – dreaming in multicolours, in bright images and perpetual restless movement.