Tamika Galanis: 28

Tamika Galanis’ 2015 video work 28 is an emotional response to family photographs documenting a mother-daughter relationship cut short by substance abuse. Taking deeply personal family archival photos of the artist with her mother, the work presents the gradual disintegration of family laid out visually—relationships, images, and memories put to flame. The piece offers a space of catharsis and recognition for those whose families have been torn apart by the widespread issues of substance abuse in marginalised demographics and communities—particularly in the Caribbean and its diaspora. Substance abuse in regions and communities like ours ties heavily into postcolonial traumas, ancestral traumas, and the contemporary marginalisation of Black and Caribbean peoples the world over.