Naja Simeon

St.Lucian born artist Naja Misaki Simeon studied Visual Arts and Engineering Technology and has been teaching and making art for over 10 years.
During his studies,he explored many different bodies of work including classical portraiture, plein air landscape paintings and large scale murals and has exhibited in Louisiana and Texas in the United States, London England, Port of Spain Trinidad and numerous places throughout St. Lucia. Naja’s artistic journey has come full circle to the peoples and places of the Caribbean Region allowing him to question and meditate on their multi-colonial culture; perception of self and their intimate connection with the environment.

Best known for his large-scale murals, St Lucia based artist Naja Sakey Simeon preserves the fading oral histories of the indigenous inhabitants of St Lucia using simple, elegantly applied lines and block colour forms to create distinctive, timeless pieces inspired by the bold lines of the petroglyphs left by his ancestors. Captivating from the onset, color plays a major part in Sakey’s work; rather than using modeling
or shading to lend volume and structure to his pictures, Sakey uses contrasting areas of pure, unmodulated color layered to create a depth that brings his murals to life.

Having trained as a classical oil painter at university, Sakey’s journey to becoming a muralist evolved over time, part inspired by the colorful history that he strives to capture, and part required because of the limited access to artistic materials on his native island. Sakey’s murals can be found all over St. Lucia and some are available to view as a walking tour in the city of Castries.