For protection, with love
2023
For protection, with love explores a plant ritual preserved by Caribbean aunties for generations —passed down from woman to woman—and bestowed upon loved ones as a means of protection. This large-scale installation recalls how my Guyanese auntie would burn camphor resin (from the tree Cinnamomum camphora) over charcoal briquettes to protect “all us kids” from “the evil eye.” As visitors walk inside a blackened hexagonal greenhouse, they're surrounded by charcoal covered walls lined with camphor branches. The medicinal and earthy scent of camphor fills the air as viewers hear a recording of my voice sharing stories of how my family has used this tree to defend, heal, and bless.
Originating in India and East Asia, the ritual of burning camphor came to the Caribbean with enslaved and indentured laborers—further shaped by Indigenous, Vodou, and Obeah traditions. Whether or not one believes in “evil” or a plant’s ability to ward it off, this continued practice as an incredible act of love, resiliency, and defiance that’s survived the colonial whitewashing of plants and culture.
