Lisandro Suriel: Ghost Island

Ghost Island is a cinematic exploration of Caribbean identity that bridges ancestral memory and contemporary experience. The film invites viewers into liminal spaces—those in-between realms where post-colonial reality meets a deep, intuitive past often overlooked. It visualises the shadows and figures that dwell on the edges of perception, representing the Black subconscious and its role in preserving alternative histories and cultural memory. Through this poetic meditation, Ghost Island challenges dominant narratives and reclaims a fractured identity by asking fundamental questions about origins, belonging, and selfhood.

About the director
Lisandro Suriel is a photographer and artistic researcher born and raised in Soualiga (the indigenous name of Saint Martin). As a child of the African diaspora, he found no formal institution ever introduced him to the idea that his history and identity might extend beyond being a descendent of slavery. Thus, his photographic journey arose from the need to reclaim his own history and identity beyond the traditional Caribbean narrative framed by a one-dimensional history of colonialism and slavery. He proposes that the imaginative lens is arguably the best with which to view how folkloric figures act as an agent in history and animate cultural memory. Suriel earned his Bachelor’s in Photography at the Royal Academy of Art (The Hague) and received his Master’s in Artistic Research at the University of Amsterdam. His work has been featured in exhibitions such as SIPF Singapore, Photo Basel and the 6th edition of Photo Vogue Festival where he was the recipient of the Studio RM Prize.