Figure of a Woman #2
First exhibited at the National Gallery in 2002, Figure of a Woman #2 is one of a number of clay figures representing women that Ebanks has created over the years. These sculpted forms appear seemingly abstract and amorphous, yet on closer inspection are distinctly figurative, recalling the style of modernist sculptors such as Henry Moore. The artist’s use of clay also harks back to biblical creation stories, in which the creator God moulds the first humans from clay — acknowledging the Christian foundations that underpin Caymanian society.
About the Artist
Al Ebanks
b. 1963
Born in George Town, sculptor and painter Al Ebanks was awarded a scholarship from the Cayman National Cultural Foundation in 1995 to study sculpture with renowned Barbadian artist Karl Broodhagen and later learned bronze casting in Tuscany through the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands’ Artists Away grant programme (2004). Ebanks co-founded the Native Sons artists collective in 1996 and was awarded CNCF’s Artistic Achievement Award in 2001. He has exhibited locally and abroad, including a solo show at the Jackie Gleason Theatre, Miami. His paintings were used on-screen for the feature film Haven (written and directed by Frank E. Flowers; 2004). Ebanks’ work is included in the permanent collections of the Cayman Islands National Museum, NGCI and the Griffin Gallery, Chicago. NGCI exhibitions include the solo exhibition Dancing to Art (2004), and Native Sons’ Fahive (2005), All Access (2015), Native Sons – Twenty Years On (2016), Upon the Seas (2017), Mediating Self (2017), Cross Currents – 1st Cayman Islands Biennial (2019), Island of Women: Life at Home During our Maritime Years (2020), Reimagined Futures: 2nd Cayman Islands Biennial (2021), and The People’s Collection: A 25-Year Cultural Legacy (2022).
