Her name is Winsom Winsom, she's a Canadian artist who spends half her time in Belize, Cristo Rey to be precise. And now, she's opening an exhibit at the Image Factory and it's named: "I am the alchemist." But after we show you what she showed us, you might think she's more than an alchemist; you might say she's an obeah woman. Here's what she has to say to that.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
If you see her lighting incense and pouring rum, trust us, it's not for a party - or not a party in any traditional sense. Winsom Winsom is invoking the spirits, she says, of the ancestors.
[Video Montage]
And this solemn ritual of copal and sandalwood incense and rum and shells and candles and a feather is part of the mystery and mysticism of her art:
Winsom Winsom, Artist
"The purpose is to connect us to the many levels in this universe, many planes, and one of them the ancestral plane
and we are on this earth plane right now and so I make a connection to it with all the people who have gone by, who wishes me well. So I would go talk to them, ask them to help me in this world in what I do."
And that help is enlisted not only at the opening of shows - but in the creation itself - where she says the spirits come to her in dreams.
Winsom Winsom,
"Most of work are dreamt work. Some of them are actual work like this is an actual definition of me, it is a fire definition. It is where you take the fabric and that is a replica of it on the bottom there where I take the candles, wrap it up, and then put it on fire and the smoke from the fire creates the patterns on it and from that I can read and tell what's going on with me and how my life is going."
And the sprit guides navigate her into a space that to many may seem like Santeria or just plain obeah.
Jules Vasquez,
I know that people will come and say this is a bit too far out, this is too spaced out.
Winsom Winsom,
"I know that, I'm already prepared for it and I know a lot of people won't understand it. But you know it is light, it is giving light to the world. It is love. Everything I do is for love and if they just leave feeling loved then I have accomplished what I want to do."
Jules Vasquez,
"We know now most art is made to sell. Are you a throw back in a sense
trying to make art that speaks to another spiritual plane?
Winsom Winsom,
"I am proud to be a throwback because I am connected to the ancestors very clearly and they work with me and yes my art really, I depend on the universe to look after me and really I have not wanted for anything. So the universe makes sure I am looked after. I do their work and they do their work, they look after me."
And as they look after her, she just follows their - to wherever the spirits take her:
Winsom Winsom,
"I am not sure what I am searching for but what I do know is that I use whatever comes to me. I make myself open, be a vessel, so whatever higher powers want to use me in whatever way for the goodness and it is all for good, I have requested that and when I do my prayers it is always for the highest good of myself and mankind."
Winsom's show opens tomorrow night at the Image Factory.
