Sandra Brewster b . Canada 1973
The first time the Toronto-based artist Sandra Brewster stepped foot on Guyana ’ s soil was in 2008 . She was 35 years old . Her Guyaneseborn parents were part of a great migration of the 1960s to the United States and Canada . In the coming years , Toronto would emerge as a prominent node in the Caribbean diaspora as one of the largest and oldest Guyanese populations outside of Guyana .
What then does it mean to be Guyanese , Caribbean , and Canadian all at once ? On navigating identity during her childhood growing up in Toronto , the artist shares , “ My sister and I were seen as two little Canadian girls . However , I ’ d insist that I was Guyanese simply because of where my parents were born . It didn ’ t matter where I was born .”
As a daughter of immigrant parents living in Canada , Brewster grew up hearing her family ’ s stories of life in Georgetown that simultaneously gave her a connection to as well as “…. a longing for a home I had never been to ,” states the artist . “ They would talk about a place that was once beautiful and productive , then debate over the county ’ s troubling economic conditions now .”