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Carnival Tabanca came out of missing Carnival — not just the parade itself, but the feeling that comes with it. During the pandemic, Toronto went without Caribana, and with that absence came a sense of longing that many of us felt deeply.

The word tabanca describes a kind of heartbreak; the ache of losing something you love and can’t quite replace. This painting grew out of that feeling. It shows six women in mas costumes, each caught in motion, moving the way bodies do on the road during Carnival. I wanted the figures to feel alive, not frozen.

Instead of traditional feathers, I used real dried flowers to build the costumes, attaching them one by one along with over 400 Swarovski crystals. Every element was applied by hand and sealed with a layer of lightly glittered resin so the surface holds its movement, shine, and texture over time.

This piece is also a return to an earlier work I made in 2017, What a Bam Bam. Revisiting it years later felt like a way to mark my growth — not by recreating the past, but by reworking it with more care, patience, and intention.

At its core, Carnival Tabanca is about culture, memory, and love — for Carnival, for community, and for the parts of ourselves that stay connected to home no matter where we are.