Dominican artist Ilyas Nassief gears up for upcoming Old Mill exhibition exploring identity, memory and cultural connection

Dominican-born artist JeanClaude Elias Nassief, also known as Ilyas Nassief, is preparing to showcase a deeply personal body of work in his upcoming exhibition, “The Return Series,” a collection shaped by migration, memory, cultural identity, and artistic rediscovery.

Nassief pursued formal art studies in the United States, first studying printmaking at Miami Dade Community College before continuing his education at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he completed his degree.

Over the years, Nassief has earned recognition for both his artistic talent and creative design work. In 1995, he received First Prize for the Lime Calendar Cover Design competition. His work has also been featured in several publications, including Miambiance magazine, France-Antilles newspaper, and Domnitjen Magazine, where his artwork appeared on the cover.

His work has been exhibited internationally at venues and exhibitions including Art Exchange in Vienna, Austria; the Cezanne Center in Saudi Arabia; CARIFESTA 2019 in Trinidad and Tobago; and the Gallery of Caribbean Art in Barbados, amongst many others. Other exhibitions featuring his work include “Repetition,” “Glimpses of Contrast and Sameness,” and “All Must Go,” which were showcased in Trinidad and Tobago.

Although painting remained a significant part of his creative identity, Nassief stepped away from the canvas between 2000 and 2012, focusing on other interests, including the study of the Arabic language. Since returning to painting, however, he has created an extensive collection of artworks that reflects both his personal experiences and evolving artistic philosophy.

The artist describes his style as one heavily influenced by his background in printmaking, incorporating techniques such as woodcuts and stenciling while balancing abstract imagery with recognizable visual elements.

“My style of painting contains many print-making elements such as woodcuts, stenciling, etc. I contrast between abstract or non-literal representation, combined with recognizable elements. Contrast has been a theme that I have always gravitated to very naturally from the very beginning of my art-making life,” Nassief explained.

“Sometimes the contrast is between colour and other times it may be a contrast of shape/ forms and texture. My art is based on a vision that goes beyond geographical limitations to embrace traditions that are universal and varied, much like the variety in all aspects of the world which surrounds us”.

Central to the upcoming exhibition is “The Return Series,” a body of work inspired largely by Nassief’s relocation after spending 25 years living in Saudi Arabia. According to the artist, the move back to Dominica was not straightforward and involved significant bureaucratic and logistical challenges.

“When I started work on these paintings, there was a need to answer the urge that we call ‘inspiration’. Inspiration is what drives any human being, particularly creatives, to do what we do,” he stated in his artist statement.

“There was a need to relocate after having lived for twenty-five years in a land (Saudi Arabia) that I had benefitted from immensely, both scholarly as well as culturally. Travel, however, did not prove easy. Logistical issues aside, the complex system of bureaucracy spun a web that made such a mundane task seem much more complicated than it should have been.”

Nassief said that by December 2025, he had finally returned home to Dominica and immediately began transforming ideas into new works despite limited access to painting materials.

“Fast forward to December 2025, and I had passed through the barriers and set sail for the shores of my homeland. I began almost immediately to transform a thought to material objects, while being limited to about three colours. The reason for this stripped-down palette was not an aesthetic choice, but the pragmatism of a lack of access to painting supplies.”

The exhibition combines older pieces inspired by previous experiences with newer works produced in Dominica, reflecting recurring themes, symbols, and forms that reappear throughout his artistic journey.

“The paintings that you see here are a mixture of earlier works inspired by other events and the more recent works made on Dominican soil. The difference, however, is not as stark as one might imagine, and this is due perhaps to my work ethic as well as inspiration and interests,” said Nassief.

He added, “Forms and symbols re-emerge and sometimes get recycled to return in works that were inspired by completely separate ideas, and this is where the individual’s mark and choices bring about a uniformity that is unique to anyone who seeks to produce what we call ‘art’, which in reality, is an expression of thought, directed by inspiration and what one sees as relevant or important.”

Nassief also explained that his work intentionally moves beyond narrow national or geographic definitions, instead focusing on shared cultural and artistic connections that transcend borders.

“There is a universality that I am interested in, and this is why I do not attempt to adhere to many of the limitations that define national interests, although at the end of the day, location as well as memory and experience do find their way into the work no matter how subtly.”

One recurring symbol throughout the exhibition is Madras fabric, symbolic of Dominican and wider Caribbean cultural wear, which the artist uses to explore ideas surrounding identity and cultural interconnectedness.

“In relation to the concept of ‘identity’, the ‘Madras’ cloth has been used in many of these recent (as well as past) works. To me, it is a very interesting symbolic reminder of the intertwining of cultures. As you know, this cloth is produced in India, specifically the town of Chennai, formerly known as ‘Madras’, from where the name is derived. In addition, this word comes from the Arabic word مدرسة (madrasah) which means ‘a place of learning’,” he stated.

According to the artist, these cultural and historical connections are central to his creative approach, which moves away from the direct observational style commonly associated with European art traditions. Instead, he said his paintings rely more on intuitive and abstract techniques that reflect influences from Eastern and indigenous artistic practices, which he feels are more closely aligned with his personal interests and way of thinking.

As audiences prepare to experience “The Return Series,” Nassief says he hopes viewers will connect with the work in their own, personal way.

“I hope that the viewers find their own inspiration and interpretations, as this is ultimately the culmination of the process for the author of any work”.