Robin Griffith
4th Place Winner of the "Drawing Self-Emancipation" Youth Art Competition 2026
Artist bio
Robin Griffith is a 21 year old Barbadian artist who loves story-telling. As a little girl, her teachers always said she daydreamed too much, but she loved allowing her mind to wander into other worlds. Art has always been a physical outlet for her to explore narratives and study the world in fine detail.
She was unsure about “being an artist” growing up, but at the end of her tenure at the St. Michael School, she achieved regional distinction, placing 5th place for her Visual Art CXC in 2021. She took that as a sign to keep going.
She went on to pursue an Associate Degree in Visual Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at the Barbados Community College. While studying, she also worked as a Graphic Designer and Illustrator.
Title of artwork: "Destiny's Metamorphosis"
Acrylic on canvas
Artist Statement
The piece focuses on the fact that Sukey Francis was a creative person who spun lies to evade capture.
My work shows her metaphorically rewriting the pages of her destiny and showing Clarissa what it meant to do the same and be free.
Self-emancipating people: Sukey Frances and Clarissa
Advertisement from the newspaper "Barbados Mercury" (August 10, 1811)
Transcription
TWENTY POUNDS REWARD. ABSCONDED from her Owner in Bridge-Town, early on Sunday morning the 16th inst. a tall, thin Negro Woman, native of this Island, named Sukey Frances, with her infant daughter, Clarissa. Her skin is of a yellow cast, and rough; her cheek-bones rather high; had lately a blister on her stomach, of which the mark may yet remain. She carried away her bedding, her own and child’s clothes, and three pieces of fine Irish linen, about 2 yards each. This woman is well known in the Town. She formerly belonged to Mr. Moses Pinheiro, and was then harboured by his watchman on Collymore Rock Plantation, named David, the father of Clarissa. Her mother, named Leman, and one of her sisters, named Mary James, belong to Benj. Williams, Esq. Comptroller at Hole-Town, and there reside; another sister, named Sarah Fortune, lives at the back of Masons’-Hall; and she has a brother, named Will Philip, belonging to Mr. Tryhane, in the Green. By David, at Collymore Rock, or by one or other of her relations, they are supposed to be harboured. She is artful and most plausible; in no shape embarrassed when even unexpectedly detected in crime, but on the contrary, prepared with a story to meet every contingency. Clarissa is about 3 1/2 years old; a pretty, delicate-made child, high forehead, and turns in her feet; she is remarkably smart and sensible, and fond of speaking French.
The advertisement is in page 4 of the newspaper. To read the full issue, please click here.