liesabacchus
ArtEvol 2025 / Liesa Bacchus
Indentured Indian Labourers Waiting at the Depot, Suriname , 2025 Oil and acrylic on canvas 100 × 76 × 7 cm
Liesa Bacchus is a British artist of Indo-Caribbean heritage whose practice focuses on ancestry, migration and the Indo-Caribbean diaspora, addressing the colonial legacy of indentureship across former European territories. Bacchus works with personal and archival material, transforming research into visual renderings through painting and drawing.
Artwork Introduction
Indentured Indian Labourers Waiting at the Depot, Suriname is part of an ongoing series focusing on Indian indentureship across former European colonies. Each painting in the series is based on colonial documentary photographs taken during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Liesa Bacchus, of Indo-Caribbean heritage, draws on ancestors who were indentured Indians sent to the Caribbean. Indentureship was a system endorsed by the British Empire to continue work on plantations across colonies after the Abolition of Slavery. The series raises awareness and questions the legacy and ramifications of Indian indentureship and its impact on those directly affected.
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