Caribbean Dreams: Constructions is an evolving body of work that poses questions on the nature of exodus, the transformations that happen therein, and the language of diaspora. Prompted by Caribbean cultural and political studies, familial and regional histories, folklore and memory, Box’s complex studio tableaux and still-lifes assemble personal, familial and regionally-referent objects, heirlooms, fruits, vegetables and plants, onto which vernacular images, fruit stickers, packaging and receipts are collaged. The experimental and unpredictable nature of these compositions references structures of exodus and diaspora, and embodies an exploration of the artist’s multiply-diasporic Caribbean identity.  

Plants, fruits and vegetables, and their social histories, are an important subject for Box. With arrangements and lighting recalling Dutch still life painting (itself a record of empire), she acknowledges the trade routes between Africa, the Caribbean, North America and Europe that uprooted people and traditions along with goods and resources. Photographs of seedlings, made under disorienting grow-light, prompt consideration of methods of survival of the transplanted, whilst produce stickers and packaging highlight global currents in the circulation and commodification of diasporic culture.

The scale of these photographs crafts an immersive experience and a sense of world-building, but it also allows the audience to notice the exposed apparatus of the photographic studio. Beyond the formal subject matter we see uneven seams in the backdrops, the edge of a lighting rig, cables and tape. Drawing attention to the artifice of the photographic construct underscores the historic and colonial use of photography in creating the myth of a Caribbean paradise, whilst simultaneously subjugating and disenfranchising its people.