It’s truly an amazing feeling knowing how much passion and dedication drives our Jamaican youngsters. Meet Abigail Titus. An 18 year old up and coming Jamaican visual artist. She’s a second year media student at the University of Technology who specializes in portrait illustration. This past student of Meadowbrook High School recalls spending most of her childhood in Old Harbour with her mom, dad and older brother.teenAGE.  Her interests for the arts started at a very tender age as she was surrounded by pure creative energy growing up, with her mother being a dressmaker and a fashion student. TA sat with AT and asked her a couple of questions regarding art in Jamaica as well as her goals and inspirations.

   “I laughed when I previously spoke about my budding art career because I remember first profiting off my talent from my classmates paying me to do their class work for them. I made a lot of money off that”, Abigail told

    Since high school her work has been exhibited in 2015 Creative Edge: Week Two exhibition at The Centre For the Arts, UTech, 2015 Creative Edge: Week of Excellence exhibition at The Centre For the Arts, Utech, 2015 ARTive Art Show at the Christar Villas Hotel, Jamaica and 2016 Black History Month exhibition at The Centre For the Arts, UTech.

 So

TA: What makes your artwork different from the artists that went before you and the ones from our generation?AT: I like to think what makes my work different is my line work style as well as my compositions. My work tends to display a lot of different things which opens it to various interpretations. I’ve spent awhile developing this style in such a way to definitively make it unique to me and I think having your own feel to your work is what will set any artist apart from everyone else.

TA: What are your goals and aspirations?AT: Goals, wow. My main goal right now is to perfect the drawing style that I have created for myself. I want to carry it to such a point that it is completely unique to me. To figuratively create my own artistic lane, that only I drive in so I can avoid comparing myself to other artist’s work. There are a few other art forms that I intend to venture in. These are photography, digital art and playing the guitar. I recently got a guitar and have started learning to play but I am currently working on getting funds to purchase the equipment to fuel these interests of mine. After I finish my degree at UTech, because I am not one to quit something I’ve started, I in fact still intend to go to art school to pursue a Master’s Degree in Fine Art. I will still be very young so it might not be at Edna like I wanted but I just really want to study my passion at school. I want to know it inside out in order to set a foundation for art to be my career. In the long run if the universe allows it, I hope to in the future I also open a café/gallery dedicated to supporting young and upcoming artists in Jamaica. 

TA: (In your opinion) Do you think enough is being done to support the young and talented of Jamaica specifically as it relates to the visual arts?AT:  No, I don’t think so. I don’t think that there are enough in the way of public exhibitions to showcase the talent of young and new local artists. I know that there are a few events that come about which shows some amount of effort from Jamaica but I still don’t think that enough is being offered in the way of opportunities to push and help young talents become recognized in the art world.TA: Do you look up to any local or international artists? Why?AT: The two main artists that inspire me most are Taj Francis and Keith Haring, may he rest in peace. Taj because of his style and the vibrancy of his work and the fact that you can’t just see it and move along. It has that wow factor that makes people really want to stop and just say ..wow which is something I try to bring across in my pieces as well. I’m also inspired by Keith because he was capable of bringing across extremely strong messages through symbolism and such simple line work illustration which is an ability I would want to develop for my work.TA: Describe a real life situation that inspired you.AT: I can’t really think of any real life situations but I know what really inspires me is seeing other creatives being productive and putting out their work. Seeing them do their thing really pushes me to do the same, keep going and never stop.TA: What do you dislike about the art world?AT: The stigma that everything has to make sense. In reality a lot of the art created out there is just the free flow of the mind of the artist and yet in order for it to be taken note of or acknowledged, the artist is often times expected to have an explanation or some ‘deep’ concept. I am not belittling the importance of a concept or a message but art is about creation and once creation has occurred, the reason as to why it was created or why you put that line there I think is trivial. Just enjoy it for what you see and gather your own interpretations.­

All the pictures shown are original pieces by Abigail.