Arielle John

Goldsmiths offered me a stimulating social environment to deconstruct and critically approach new options inside of my research. The Drama department allowed me freedom to find new angles in the work, inside a supportive framework that helped the organic progression of my academic curiosities. My course convener made the classroom a place of fascination and insightful exchange and our cohort worked well in the co-creation of a learning space that we all loved for its intrigue and challenge. Studying here allowed me an opportunity to cross paths with some of the best practitioners in the arts (from around the globe), and my attendance here has often served as a wonderful conversation starter in regional art circles.

I currently have my own healing arts company in Trinidad and Tobago called Blue Oracle, where I use Caribbean-based art interventionist strategies to work with survivors through narrative medicine. Additionally, I work with a number of nonprofit organizations including Girl Be Heard Trinidad and Tobago that uses socially conscious performance-making to amplify and celebrate the voices of teenage girls and non-binary youth. At this time I am also working on my second one-woman show 'Eco_Logic' through an Artist Residency with Black Spatial Relics at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, due to be staged in 2022. All of my work has brought immense fulfilment in one way or another with my contributions as an artist and indigenous woman healer in the various communities I land in service to. I am not only in the work of creating art but also in the posture of passing on these skills to the youth in my community.