I live in pressure. I was born into it. I am of it. It has formed who I am and how I understand the world. Yet it is not me. I escape it through my work. I create time and space to be something else. To live in a different space. All the pressure I feel forces me to find light in the murkiest places; I find ways to articulate it in my work, and it’s the pressure that drives me to create and find some liberation from it. The social life I feel cemented into, the webs of history that emanate today, the grief of losing my father, the anxiety I have about living in this postcolonial space. The pressure builds and it destroys. It’s hard navigating through something that is meant to keep you submerged . . . but I am more than the pressure inflicted upon me.

The complete overview of Ricardo Edwards’ featured work can be found in the Kingston Biennial 2022: Pressure Catalogue, which is available for sale in the NGJ Gift Shop.