from many sides / Davidoff Limited Art Edition (2016)
commissioned single channel video with sound (10min.)
Oculus GearVR virtual reality sequence / work in progress
preview of the virtual reality project in NYC, London &
Hong-Kong

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from many sides highlights intuitive connections to the Caribbean island space; to its rich hues, strong contrasts, darkness and light. Portraying these sites of memory, blending stories and myths of a complex and hybrid past, the layered sequences allow the figures, trees and water to transform, merging with the surrounding land. A staged sequence of a contemporary River Mother (or Mermaid) evokes profound connections across the region by referring to the presence of this shared mythical figure embedded within the region’s cultural space.

The elemental, cyclical ebb and flow of Caribbean waters sifts through layers of inherited histories, painting the physicality of time through light, colors, textures and sounds from nature. This ephemeral audio-visual blend offers an immersive experience in the liquid and fantasy space of the screen.

McGilchrist is a French-Jamaican visual artist exploring translocation and issues of Caribbean cultural identity by proxy of her alter-ego ‘whitey’s’ placement in the Jamaican landscape.

Questioning the shifting categories in which she belongs, from the female body in a postmodern space to a visibly white postcolonial creole identity, whitey questions the role of racial, social and gender based categorization, classification and discrimination in the contemporary Caribbean space.

By juxtaposing parallel realities through photographs, video installations and more recently with virtual reality, elements of the tropical picturesque are re-appropriated, and remapped in the search for her cultural identity.

I am aware of the two strands of privilege I am privy to: the access to new media technology, scholarship and exposure and the insider / outsider position afforded to me by the color of my skin, as well as my gender. The challenge here is to create within yet beyond these constraints, both aware and au fait with these loaded and potentially dangerous situations, aspiring to overturn as many expectations as possible though the content, presentation and substance of the work presented in a Caribbean centered multi-media arts practice.

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Ernestine and Me (10min.)
Video Work (2012)
3:47 Clip (with sound)
Full Video (no sound)

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Artist Olivia McGilchrist’s alter ego ‘Whitey’ presents herself as a cultural object to a range of contemporary Jamaicans, exposing their varied reactions to this forced encounter.

This experimental video offers a double take on contemporary Jamaican life for a returning white female of part- Jamaican origin; with no living Jamaican relatives remaining, and very little information about her Jamaican heritage. Ernestine was Olivia’s black great-grandmother, which she only discovered a few years ago in a family photograph found at her late grandfather’s house upon her return to the island in 2011.

From Heidi McKenzie’s curator statement Face Value, Gallery 1313, Toronto, Canada, 2014:
“In the 10 minute video installation, Ernestine and Me, close-ups of the found family portrait literally frame McGilchrist’s portrayal of herself in relation to a series of contemporary Jamaicans from a variety of racial and social backgrounds. The cast of locals in the video encircle Whitey: they mock, probe and examine the character as a cultural object. Through these performative acts, the artist not only calls into question her own mobility in terms of the privilege ascribed to her by virtue of her white skin, she also asks her viewers to consider themselves as possible characters in the scenario being played out, and experience what they might feel, assume, or presume in response to her appearance within the context of her Jamaican identity.”

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Olivia McGilchrist is a Jamaican photographer and video artist renowned for her work related to identity, race and gender. Her alter-ego, ‘Whitey’ features in a number of her works, representing not only the insider-outsider within Jamaican society and culture, but also a figure reminiscent of a lost history. McGilchrist incorporates her own masked presence into her images and videos, hovering on the line between artist, performer and subject. Inevitably, her work deals with identity, elevating the aesthetic and conceptual principles upon which her work is based. McGilchrist is currently based in Montreal.