Ketchin’ Babies
This community quilt was inspired by oral histories about midwifery and home births in Cayman and was produced by Nasaria Suckoo Chollette in partnership with Needles & Friends. This group was started by Mrs. Rhonda Edie, bringing together artisans who practice various forms of fibre or textile crafts, with the intention of creating works in support of charitable causes within the community. This project also honours the work of Cayman’s midwives, acknowledging the bravery of those who birthed children at a time of limited access to medical resources, illustrating this history in a visually accessible manner. The participating artisans include Rhonda Edie, Celia Hydes, Elaine Graham, Nasaria Suckoo Chollette, Kerry Nixon, Sharon Cranston, Dorothea “Cindy” Pearson-Shaw, Rosemay Ebanks, Elizabeth “Nettie” Nicoletta, Mandy Pinet, Ina Augustine, and Carol Terry.
About the Artist
Nasaria Suckoo Chollette
b. 1968
Born in George Town, Grand Cayman, Suckoo Chollette received a BA in Theatre and an MA in Educational Theatre from New York University. She is a member of the artists collective Native Sons and has exhibited widely both with the group and as a solo artist. An accomplished poet and actor, her work explores themes of female strength and empowerment, race and the repercussions of enslavement, as well as the erosion of Caymanian cultural traditions. In 2006 Suckoo Chollette won first place in the McCoy Prize competition for her painting Maiden Plum, and in 2019 she was the Bendel Hydes award winner in the inaugural biennial exhibition for her work Becoming Again (2019). In 2021 she was also the recipient of a Gold Star for Creativity at the National Arts and Culture Awards Ceremony. Her work is included in the permanent collections of NGCI and the Cayman Islands National Museum, and is featured in Art of the Cayman Islands, the islands’ first formal art history (Scala Fine Art Publishers Ltd., Fall 2016). NGCI exhibitions include: Native Sons’ Fahive (2005), The Persistence of Memory (2011), Metamorphoses (2014), All Access (2015), tIDal Shift: Explorations of Identity in Contemporary Caymanian Art (2015), Native Sons – Twenty Years On (2016), Speak to Me (2016), Mediating Self (2017), Revive: Contemporary Caymanian Craft (2017), Cross Currents – 1st Cayman Islands Biennial (2019), Island of Women: Life at Home During our Maritime Years (2020), Interior and Interiority (2020), Reimagined Futures – 2nd Cayman Islands Biennial (2021) and The People’s Collection – A 25-Year Cultural Legacy (2022).
