Kayla Carter

I am  a writer, a storyteller, a poet,  an actor,  and a dancer. I am a Toronto-born artist who is of Jamaican, Cuban, Maroon and Taino ancestry and believes that her existence is not accidental nor is it coincidental. I believe that art is a healing, transformative and meditative process not only for those who are receiving it but also giving it. My work focuses on regimes of trauma, healing, diaspora, affect, shame, institutions and histories of violence, queer theory, blackness, transnational feminist thought and storytelling.  I am currently completing my Masters in the Critical Disability Studies Department at York University, where I am focusing on mental health within Caribbean communities, histories of ancestral trauma and how there is healing through art.

I have always been of the belief that telling our stories is how we step into an understanding of our past. For Fried Plantains is how I understand my past. I am so honoured to be part of Staging Histories because it is a space where the cultivation of histories that are so often forgotten is honoured, cultivated and respected.