Alexia Roach

Metamorphospace, 2017

Silver chains, embroidered lace, beads, crystals, roses, broken mirror

Toni Alexia Roach, born and raised on the island of New Providence, Bahamas, is an interdisciplinary artist and former gallery owner. She graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Art in Visual Communication from Andrews University in 2013, and most recently attained her Master of Design in Fashion, Body and Garment from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2017. Prior to her first solo show in 2008, Roach worked on numerous music projects alongside the late Errol Brown (Hot Chocolate), Kevin "Kirv" Irving, and 'Rick' Carey (BahaMen), and has since incorporated vocal performance into her creative repertoire.

About Metamorphospace

My work embodies themes of coexistence and duality. I often bring contradictions of medium and theory together harmoniously, not simply to bring about aesthetic cohesion, but to make valid unlikely or unimaginable ideals, breaking the rules of convention to form my own utopia.

Metamorphospace was inspired by the natural and inevitable changes, and the in-between of two separate lives, creatures, experiences. Having drawn inspiration from her own experience of losing a loved one, the roses become an ode to the memory of whom we love. The roses continue to wither and die, but the embellished outline of each petal sustains the memory of something that was once beautiful. This use of embellishment as an act of record-keeping illustrates both the turmoil and beauty of change.