Foraged Futures: Material Memories of Place

Jacoub Reyes's artist statement:  My practice investigates the human form intersected with vegetal life, an approach I define as phytomorphic resistance. As the child of a Catholic Caribbean mother and a South Asian Muslim father, I examine how anatomy serves as a site for both historical tension and botanical renewal. By carving the body transforming, hybridizing, and mutating into plants, my work analyzes themes of migration, displacement, and colonial taxonomy. This inquiry is anchored by my work as a part-time gardener, where I cultivate native species and manually remove invasive growth. These land management rhythms translate directly into my studio production, where my gardening and creative processes converge through material choices. I forage for earth pigments and local flora from the landscapes I tend, infusing them into my inks so each print carries the material memory of the environment. Because the monumental scale of my relief carvings exceeds machine capacity, I pr

Teens (13-18)