Dominican nabs Sagicor General’s Home Is Where the HeART Is prize

Jerrel Joseph, a member of the Waitukubuli Artists Association, has emerged the winner in Sagicor General’s recently concluded “Home is Where the Heart is,” Art Competition. The young Dominican, who credits artists Earl Etienne, Aaron Hamilton and Lowell Royer, as inspiration, and who has always loved art and being creative, won the top prize from the Sagicor General Judging Committee. He also earned the People’s Choice Award based on the public’s input via social media.

In September of 2021, Sagicor General Insurance Inc, launched the competition in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica and St Lucia. Sagicor General’s President and CEO, Keston Howell, explained why they decided to launch the initiative: “Our team brainstormed this idea while we were about a year into the pandemic. We had all been working from home, or in a hybrid environment, and for much of us the focus had been about how do we survive and move forward. Given that there were so many unknowns, we wanted to give our creatives the opportunity to artistically express their vision of the future in a post-Covid-19 Caribbean.”

Howell further explained how the competition was organized, “The art competition was centered on three categories: Re-imagine Life, I am a Change Agent and Grow Together. We accepted submissions in the form of drawings, graphic/illustrations and paintings. The submissions were judged by regional artists and art enthusiasts, following which the top three submissions were posted on our social media platforms and subjected to a public voting process for the People’s Choice Award. The top piece from that process was adjudged the overall winner. In addition to receiving a cash prize, we agreed to unveil and display the artwork in a space where the public could visit and view the winning piece. In Dominica the public will see Jerrel’s work while they pass by at New ToWn Savannah.”

He added, “Instead of having one overall Caribbean winner, we wanted to highlight a winner in each country, noting that each country’s identity is unique, and therefore the artists would have interpretations of the themes that were specific to their experiences.”

In the first phase of the competition, the company received several submissions from artists of all ages and in various types of media. In Dominica the top three places went to Jerrel Joseph, Jacqueline Burnette and Anella Shillingford. All three winners saw their artwork posted on Sagicor General’s social media pages.

Remarking on his win, Joseph is humble, measured and introspective. He explained that his love for art and his artistic ability is innate, remembering that he would get into trouble as a child of four or five for drawing on walls and in any book he could find, as many children do. But he progressed, and he said that his family would suggest that his ability was passed from his grandfather who was a woodworker and a carver. While this is not his preferred medium, he acknowledged the legacy of his grandfather.

He explained how he decided to enter the Sagicor General competition, “I didn’t see the ads for it originally, but a friend sent me the image on WhatsApp and she said that I should enter. She felt I could win. I, however, wasn’t as sure, but I went to the website, took a look at the areas and I started sketching. I did two sketches and after getting some feedback from fellow artists, I decided to pull the two together. The end result is what was submitted to the competition.”

Joseph shares that he was taken aback when he heard he’d won the first part of the competition and was onto the People’s Choice phase. Sharing that he didn’t have any expectations then either, he shared that he is grateful and motivated by the win. He said, “I’m thankful to my friend who encouraged me to enter and to my father, who was keeping me up to date on the voting during the People’s Choice stage. Their encouragement and this award have given me greater confidence to pursue this even more seriously. Now I am thinking about a solo exhibition in 2022 or 2023.”