Light Work Podcast

Samantha Box: Caribbean Dreams

Light Work Podcast

Show Notes

Samantha Box’s new body of work, Caribbean Dreams, is a series of complex studio still lifes of personal, familial, and regionally-referenced objects, heirlooms, fruits, vegetables, and plants, onto which she collages family and vernacular images, fruit stickers, packaging, and receipts. A departure from earlier methods and subject matter, the constructed, experimental, and unpredictable compositions of Caribbean Dreams embody Box’s exploration of multiple diasporic Caribbean histories and identities.

Box’s new methods pose an opportunity and dilemma: once you seize the freedom to create an image from scratch, where do you begin? With a new camera, family artifacts, and grocery store produce, she embarked on making tabletop still lifes. She cites seeing a forgotten fruit from her childhood, the soursop, in her local green market as what started her down the path of creating images in the studio. Present in all of Box’s constructions is her desire to see her Caribbean identity and history from as many angles as possible. Each new generation of images both invites and prods the viewer to consider the recurring objects with a fresh perspective.

samanthabox.com

—

Music: "Skip Song" by A. A. Aalto Intro/Outro Music: Vela Vela by Blue Dot Sessions

Special thanks to Daylight Blue Media daylightblue.com

Light Work lightwork.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More from Light Work Podcast

Sep 25, 2026

Sayler/Morris and Christina Seely: museum August 24 – December 11, 2026 Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery Opening Reception: Thursday, September 24, 5-7 PM

Jul 15, 2026

2026 Light Work Grants in Photography: Maureen Beitler, Hernease Davis, Ian Sherlock Molloy, Amrita Stützle, and Patty Tomanovich June 15 – August 7, 2026 Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery Reception: Friday, August 7, 5-7pm

Apr 10, 2026

We’re Just Here for the Bad Guys chronicles Brian Van Lau’s relationship with his estranged father. Lau’s father was absent during his childhood due to his incarceration. After his release, he rebuilt his life in Vietnam, remarried, and gradually disappeared from Lau’s life. Nearly a decade later, Lau traveled to Vietnam following his father’s sudden illness, and learned of his terminal cancer. During their final week together, they collaborated on a photographic project that documented his father’s unsuccessful path toward recovery. After his father’s passing, Lau returned to his hometown in Hawai‘i seeking closure, uncovering hidden correspondence that revealed previously unknown parts of his father’s life. Entrusted with dispersing his father’s ashes across O‘ahu, the artist began working with his grandparents to reconstruct this fragmented family history through photography.

Feb 12, 2026

In her first US solo exhibition, Karolina Wojtas is sending us a conceptual care package, as an installation titled Made in Poland. Presented here are images of her family, friends, sometimes herself, kitsch objects, and folkish cultural treasures. These images are printed onto inkjet paper and textiles; soft sculptures, a video, and a text piece in the form of a letter together make up Wojtas’s own little fun fair in the Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery.

Sep 10, 2025

Sasha Phyars-Burgess: Everything Nice September 8–December 5, 2025 Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery Reception: Thurs, Sep 18, 5-7pm

See all episodes →