Hello, I'm Ryan.
This is my mythology.
ORIGIN STORY
I was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1989, but my early childhood was spent in the rural St. Andrew hills. It was there that I began drawing in the dirt, befriending animals, and developed a lasting love for the art of nature.
At the age of 4, I moved to Canada, and aside from my trips back to Jamaica for holidays, my life was in Toronto. While my Canadian upbringing shaped me, it also brought out my inner rebellious behavior, prompting my mother to send me back to Jamaica for high school. This period was crucial for my personal growth. I found discipline in academics, embraced a more natural pace of life, and saw my love for art blossom. My first foray into publishing came when I was editor in chief of my high school year book magazine. Despite all of that, I decided to pursue more "marketable" subjects, which brought me back to Canada for university.
After completing my studies, I entered the corporate world, but the stability that it provided proved destabilizing for me and my self-awareness pushed me to seek a more authentic path. Ultimately, I returned to the arts, embarking on a self-directed curriculum to compensate for lost time. This involved quickly exhausting my budget on art supplies and transforming my apartment into an artist's studio.
Eventually, I embraced the identity of an artist and my artistic journey has taken me to performances and exhibitions in Jamaica, New York, and Toronto.
MY WORK
My work is rooted in storytelling and surreal imagery, often reflecting a desire to recapture the sense of imagination and the vivid scenes of my dreams. I enjoy blending styles and mediums, with a focus on poetry, painting, photography, and prose.
Poetry and painting are definitely my favored forms though.
While in photography and prose I try to capture the world as it is, poetry and painting allow me to depict the world as I envision it.
Projects
I like to collate my works into projects
Ryan In The Media
Jali Journey | MET Radio
Radio interview with Kejo Buchanan on the Metropolitan University of Toronto's campus radio station where we talk heritage and art.
CBC Metro Morning | CBC Radio
I sat down with David Common to talk about the exhibition for Masquerade is Rebellion and took the opportunity to delve into the heritage of Caribbean festivals that may be lost on the revelers in Toronto.
