Dear Ms. Margaret

I chose to focus my Masters of Fine Arts research on building a relationship with my Grandma as my ancestor. I used my visual arts practice as a means of ancestral veneration, and to honour her life as a mixed race Indo-Caribbean Woman. After four years of working an researching, I had my thesis exhibition, my first solo exhibition, in March of 2026 in the Ada Slaight Gallery. The gallery space was transformed into a living space, I played music, and was present each day that the show was on.

Below I have recreated moments from the exhibition that combine archival photos, original drawings and embroidery, as well as letters that I wrote to my Grandma over the course of my MFA studies. The exhibition shows viewers my entire research process. The books I read in order to understand my Grandma’s context - a woman in Trinidad from the 20s-90s - were on tables and in the shelves. The letters I wrote to my grandma as a way to build a relationship with her, and to tell her about my life and who I am were filtered throughout the space. The archival photos I gathered from my Dad and Uncle Joe after long conversations with each of them. The ceramics I made for ancestral worship, and further connection to my Grandma. And lastly the drawings I made as a way of connecting to our family’s past, and as a way to honour my Grandma and her legacy: the Alexis Nagaur family.

To read the written component of this research click this link: https://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/5017/1/Alexis_Sade_DearMsMargaret_FINAL_.pdf

If you made it this far, thank you for witnessing. This project is never going to be finished, but this chapter of the project was a labour of love, it was a salve to the violence of white institutions.

Thank you Grandma, for helping me survive grad school, and for allowing me to continue this work with you, as my ancestor, forever by my side.