The oeuvre of painter Jean Girigori (1948) is an extension of her being. She is warmhearted, has an ebullient personality and is deeply involved with her fellowman. Her conversations are about social justice, women’s rights, injustice done to children and the unification of the Caribbean people. Jean’s remarkable talent is evident not only in her mastery of color and brushwork, but also in her ability to penetrate to the core of the matter she wishes to portray. Working always in accordance with the mood that triggered off her inspiration, Jean is ready to express her innermost feelings. For a very good reason they call her the ‘Painter of the Magic Arc of the Caribbean’.
Her topics are close by or worldwide, but never unimportant. She paints about the hardships of Caribbean country life using images of cockfights, fishes, crying children and numerous people in the streets of big cities. Everything is moving, coming or going, telling us to change the world, to look for changes, to come with alternatives. Girls portrayed as brides, child’s eyes that often look accusing into the world. They have thick lips, formerly open round with a dark hole, nowadays almost always shut. Sometimes the children have an enormous flower bouquet on the head. These paintings are called ‘Speransa’, meaning hope. Jean expresses the pleasures and suffering of the Caribbean also in her bronze sculptures and unique glasswork.
