Soul of the Caribbean

Bush Medicine, highlights both the traditional and personal healing remedies that I associate with the Caribbean. It showcases the cures made from plants such as lemongrass, zebapique, chandelier bush, and other herbs, often suggested by aunties, neighbours or encounters made while sick. While these traditional remedies are deeply woven into the fabric of Caribbean life, my own memories of healing are rooted in something much simpler, lime and honey, and a jar of Vicks VapoRub. Whenever I was sick as a child, my mother would hold me down and rub Vicks from head to toe. At the time, I despised the ritual. The sharp menthol scent seemed overwhelming, the burning sensation beneath my nose and the vapours that made my eyes water. I would squirm and protest as she insisted that it would make me feel better. Yet despite my resistance, it became a familiar act of care and now acts as a catalyst for comfort in times of sickness. At the first signs of a stuffy nose or headache, I reach for that familiar blue bottle. These small rituals became symbols of home and over time shaped my soul. 

When I think of the Caribbean soul, I think of memory. The places we move through. The people who shape us. And all the ordinary moments that slowly become home. Like the wind moving through a breeze block, these memories leave traces behind. And through those traces, we begin to see the shape of a soul.