After the Island: Artist Panel

Born in Guadeloupe, Eddy Firmin is an artist-researcher, lecturer, curator and teacher who lives and works between Montreal and Halifax. He holds a PhD in Art Studies and Practices from the Université du Québec à Montréal and a Master’s degree from the École supérieure d’art et de design du Havre-Rouen (France). Firmin’s practice questions the transcultural logics of his identity and issues of power, while also seeking to decolonize the imagination in art.

Manuel Mathieu is a Haitian multidisciplinary artist based in Montreal working across painting, ceramics, olfaction, film, and installation. He holds an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London. His practice investigates historical violence, erasure, and spiritual legacy through embodied relationships to memory, land, and the natural world. Mathieu’s artistic journey is deeply intertwined with his community. He has initiated and participated in various social and educational projects that use art as a tool for dialogue, care, and transmission, particularly with youth and underrepresented communities.

Sharon Norwood is a Jamaican-born interdisciplinary artist whose practice spans ceramics, drawing, found objects, and installation. She holds a BFA from the University of South Florida and an MFA in Studio Art from Florida State University. Through material exploration and process-based experimentation, her work engages with race, labour, identity, and historical narratives, often examining how systems of power shape cultural memory and ways of seeing. A recurring motif in her practice is the curly line, which functions both as a formal gesture and a conceptual reference to Afro-textured hair and the Black body.