From the lush landscapes of Suriname, a secret language emerges. A cultural codex existing between adornment, wisdom, and satire. The Angisa, a cultural headkerchief worn by Afro-Suriname’s women, was a starting point for cultivating a deeper conversation of how we communicate the multilayered experiences of creolized cultures. Existing between various ancestral identities and cultural influences, while being in the landscape of South America, Suriname proves to be a collage of culture, place, and being. During his 2023 residency in Suriname with Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Institute (DVCAI), Tulloch explored the material and immaterial cultures of Suriname through craft, landscape, and storytelling. He explores his own relationship to these cultures and the connections they weave across geographical borders and territories, creating a transatlantic codex of visual communication. Through camouflaging and masking figures within the natural environment, Tulloch creates parallels between Marronage and Masquerade as tools of preservation and protection.

Land has memory, but how do we keep record of that? Where do we embed our stories to teach the next generation the relationship to the natural world? What do the visual and architectural languages of these archived histories look like in future expressions? These are the questions Tulloch explores in this new series of paintings, collage, and visual imagery.”
– Cornelius Tulloch