Sheena Rose brings art ‘Home’ to IDB Barbados Country Office

The Barbados Country Office of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has expanded its collection of Barbadian art with three new paintings by contemporary artist, Sheena Rose. These pieces join existing artwork by veterans such as Fielding Babb, Vanita Comissiong, David Alleyne and others.

Earlier this year, Rose created a stunning two-storey mural at the IDB’s headquarters in Washington D.C. entitled, “Home: The Present, The Process, The Future”.

The Caribbean, and all of the Americas, is a rich melting pot of cultures, languages, and traditions. The mural depicts the artist’s own personal journey to discover a new environment – a new future. It expresses an aspiration and a wish to feel at home within a community that shares a common sense of equality, thought, and harmony.

Now, the Barbados Country Office is home to the original sketches of this intricate, colorful work.

The Barbados Country Office was honored to welcome Rose, parents Lillian and Peter, and brother Corey, at a brief handover ceremony on Thursday, September 12, where employees had the privilege of meeting the artist and having firsthand her insight and explanation of the creative process.

Rose expressed her thanks to the IDB and her pleasure at seeing contemporary art being added to the collection in the Barbados office.

“It’s still surreal to me that I have represented Barbados and the Caribbean through this mural,” she said, adding that the canvas of the original sketches is imbued with the spontaneous energy and inspiration unleashed when she first received the commission.

The IDB’s art collection in Washington D.C., acquired over six decades, represents its commitment to invest in the artists of the region and promote diversity and cultural integration. Special emphasis is placed on emerging artists, who, through their cutting-edge ideas, bring us closer to new trends. The Sheena Rose mural in Washington, D.C. may be viewed online at: https://www.iadb.org/en/exhibitions/stairwell-mural.

IDB Country Representative for Barbados, Juan Carlos De La Hoz Viñas, congratulated Rose on the magnificence of the mural in DC and emphasized that it was a proud moment for Barbados to be featured so prominently in the IDB headquarters where thousands of employees from Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as other parts of the world, are based.

“It is a great honour to have these pieces in the Country Office as part of our collection; we are privileged to have the opportunity. I believe it will make even stronger the connection between the IDB and Barbados.”

He added, “We hope this is the beginning of a journey as we explore how we can connect creativity and imagination with development and improving lives.”