LLANOR ALLEYNE

BIOGRAPHY

Llanor Alleyne is a Barbados-born, New York-raised mixed media artist whose work explores the transformation and transfiguration of female selfhood. Her practice breaks away from the conventional demands of modern collage making by cutting, tearing, and layering originally created abstract paintings on various materials to examine female figurative presentation and the empathetic rapport women are often assumed to have with the natural world.

Her 2017 series, Queering Cane, expresses the fears, anxieties, tenderness, and unity experienced by queer women in a region that at the time was ruled by sodomy laws. Curator Ladi'Sasha Jones said of the series, "Queering Cane yields a fantastical effect to the realities of the queer woman’s body and bodies in relation to one another, in the Caribbean... Many of [Alleyne's] subjects appear ghostly, or fable-like as they perform disappearing acts between the black back-drops they emerge from and the sharp contrasts of the surrounding cane stalks and colorful landscape positioned in the foreground. There’s an abundance of movement throughout the works. No static posturing. Only vivid and intentional compositions of the bodily subjectivity."

Alleyne describes collaging as "world building," supporting her own journey of self-discovery and reinvention. Her Fugitive Ecologies series, produced in 2020, conveys "rebellious botanicals" thirsting to create a new world and reflecting her own situation as she was thrust into lockdown and self-quarantine in the midst of an already isolating move from Barbados to Tulsa, Oklahoma in March 2020. The works reflect a desire to find grounding in a new place amid surreal circumstances. "They are sprouting up — in their unusual and unique forms — in a city that is heavily marked by parking lots and expressways, in a nearly empty apartment devoid of even one house plant, from seeds planted in the tropics." By "seeds" Alleyne is referring to the paintings, originally created in Barbados, that were used in each collage, creating familiar yet completely imaginary forms that spring to life in mixed media.

The influence of Alleyne's Caribbean roots is evident in her work. She began painting as a child, depicting colorful tropical scenes as a means of processing her feelings of homesickness after immigrating to the United States at the age of 8. She has also been deeply influenced by Caribbean writers, in particular their incorporation of "loud dreaming" sessions as depicted in Toni Morrison's Paradise, a form of group therapy that involves screaming and dancing to release trauma and induce healing. 

Alleyne's work has been widely exhibited in Barbados and throughout the United States. She was one of five artists selected in 2022 for a residency at the Leslie-Lohman Museum in New York, NY. The museum commissioned a large-scale collage by Alleyne, Another Poem, which was displayed from March 15-July 21, 2024 as part of the museum's The Plural of He exhibition. Another Poem also appeared on the cover of the exhibition catalog.

EXHIBITIONS

2024 "The Plural of He," Group Exhibition, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY
2024 Affordable Art Fair New York Spring 2024 Edition, New York, NY
2023 "15-Year Anniversary Exhibition," Group Exhibition, Tourné Gallery, New York, NY
2023 Affordable Art Fair New York Spring 2023 Edition, New York, NY
2020 "Fugitive Ecologies," Solo Exhibition (Virtual), Leonard Tourné Gallery, New York, NY
2019 "Another Point of View," Group Exhibition, Embassy of Barbados, Washington, D.C. 
2019 "Immigrant: Sculptures and Paintings," Curated by Ancel Daniel, Embassy of Argentina, Barbados 
2018 "6 for a 9," Exhibition with Ronald Williams, Morningside Gallery, Punch Creative Media, Barbados 
2018 "Manchas & Collages," Exhibition with Poli Baum, Embassy of Argentina, Barbados
2018 "Artistic Interventions," Group Exhibition, Barbados Museum and Historical Society, Bridgetown, Barbados
2018 Enclothed Cognition Collaborative Kimono, Group Exhibition, Koorkappen en designs FASHIONCLASH, Bonnefantenmuseum: Maastricht, Netherlands
2018 Enclothed Cognition Collaborative Kimono, Group Exhibition, Showroom Limburg, Cube Design Museum, Kerkrade, Netherlands
2017 PRIZM Art Fair, "Universal Belonging" Group Show, Miami, FL
2017 Carifesta XIII, "Expressions" Group Show, Barbados
2017 MoCADA Museum, "My Collection" Group Show & Auction, Brooklyn, NY
2016 "Written in the Body," Solo Exhibition, Frame & Art Co., Barbados
2016 "Quaternary" Group Show, Gallerie NuEdge, Barbados
2012 "10 Squared: 100 Ways of Looking at the World" Group Show, LeRoy Neiman Art Center, New York, NY
2012 "Living Color" Group Show, Casa Frela Gallery, New York, NY

COMMISSIONS

2018 Esther Alix, Writer, Book Cover Design, Original Branding Logo and Materials
2018 Treasure Beach Hotel, Barbados: "Celine" and 32 first edition prints of "Juhanah"
2017 Fairmont Royal Pavilion, Barbados: 32 first edition prints of "Luce Marie" and 32 first edition prints of "Scrap Museum: No. 11"
2016 IDA Publishing Brand Logo: "Evangeline"
2013 Rashida & Zaria Book Cover by Esther Alix: Four original illustrations
2011 Marie Jean & Friends large-scale collage for Private Collector

COLLECTIONS

2019 "Immigrant: Sculptures and Paintings" by Ancel Daniel, Catalogue Editor with Dominic Skeete of IDZN
2017 "The Guard: An Intervention at the Barbados Museum and Historical Society" with Nyugen Smith
2016 "Enclothed Cognition" (Kimono pattern design) with Mark King and Noir Near Future

SELECT PRESS

"Llanor Alleyne: Another Poem," SX ART, January 2024  
"Llanor Alleyne: Exploring Femininity," Visionary Art Collective, October 12, 2020
"Sprouting Up in a New City," Quarantine Q&A, May 6, 2020 
"Llanor Alleyne’s female figures grounded in nature as an assertion and reclamation of inner selves," The Jamaican Observer, May 19, 2019
"Embassy of Argentina extends Argentina-Barbados Visual Arts exhibition with Llanor Alleyne and Poli Baum," The Embassy of Argentina, September 2018
"Art Diplomacy," World News, September 21, 2018
Enclothed Cognition Lookbook, Collaboration between Llanor Alleyne and clothing brand Enclothed Cognition, 2018 
"The Artist Sheena Rose Is Reaching Beyond Barbados," The New York Times, May 31, 2017