Angels in Puerto Rico exists at the intersection of history and fantasy, reflecting on the Caribbean as a space shaped by the forced displacement of West Africans and the emergence of diasporic identities. The painting depicts a contemporary Yoruba girl riding a bicycle forward in time, while faint, ghost-like impressions of her recede into the background. These figures function as both personal echoes and ancestral presences, suggesting the enduring imprint of the past on the present.
The work visualises time as an endless continuum, in which past, present, and future coexist rather than follow a linear path. The fantastical atmosphere reinforces this temporal fluidity, allowing memory, history, and imagination to collapse into a single frame. The bicycle becomes a central metaphor for agency and self-determination, symbolising the need to navigate one's journey through inherited histories actively. Its dual function as both driver and passenger seat reflects the tension between choice and circumstance, movement and restraint.
Subtly political, the painting foregrounds the relationship between contemporary Africans and their ancestors who laboured on Caribbean plantations. The receding figures serve as reminders of these inextricable connections, asserting that while the past informs our trajectories, the responsibility of direction ultimately lies with us.

Ara Deinde
Angels In Puerto Rico, 2023
Oil and acrylic on canvas
45 x 50 x 1 in
Unique work
Includes a Certificate of Authenticity

Shipping Procedure,
Ships in a well-protected tube from Amsterdam, The Netherlands
This work is unique, not a print or any other type of copy
Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (issued by the Gallery)


Condition:
Imperfections: No Imperfections
Condition Notes: In excellent condition

Origin:
Nigeria

Materials & Techniques:
Canvas, Oil Paint

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No Imperfections; In excellent condition