User:Artchivist1/drafts/Winsom

Winsom (b. 1945) is a Jamaican-born, Belize-based Canadian artist known for her work in multi-media installation, painting, textile design, film and illustration.

Early life and education
Of Maroon ancestry, Winsom was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and studied at the Jamaica School of Art. She later studied African textile design and dye techniques, learning independently from books.

Work
Winsom's artwork explores themes of African spirituality, freedom and resilience. She has cited the painters Paul Gauguin and Emily Carr among her inspirations.

She is noted for her community work, which has included mentorship of emerging artists, work with young offenders, and volunteer work with Black female inmates in Kingston Penitentiary in Kingston, Ontario.

Major exhibitions
Winsom was one of the eleven artists whose work constituted the formative 1989 traveling exhibition Black Wimmin: When and Where We Enter, organized by the Diasporic African Women's Art Collective (DAWA). Her work has since been included in exhibitions at Canadian institutions including the Thames Art Gallery in Chatham, Ontario (River of Life, 2000); A Space Gallery, Toronto (Iconography of Divination / Sign of Spirit, 2003); and the Art Gallery of Ontario (Entering the Millennium: A Spiritual Dialogue, 1997, curated by Nkiru Nzegwu, and Toronto: Tributes + Tributaries, 2016-17, curated by Wanda Nanibush). She was featured in the exhibition Rousings: Progressive Jamaican Art at the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands in 2004.

Solo exhibitions of Winsom's work have been held in Belize (Jumping the Big Boa at The Image Factory, 2012) and at the Art Gallery of Ontario (I Rise, 2018-19, curated by Andrea Fatona).

Collections
Winsom's work Mirror of Dearth (1989) is in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Honours
Winsom's film Oya was awarded the prize for Best Short Film at the Belize International Film Festival (2005). She received the Marilyn Lastman Award from the City of Toronto for her work in promoting the arts and mentoring, 2002. In 2015, Winsom was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Ontario College of Art and Design University.