By Ashlee Sargeant on Thursday, 10 March, 2022 at 03:16 PM

Donné Haynes, a student of the Bachelor of Fine Arts programme at the Barbados Community College (BCC), has won the title of Artist of the Year for the second time in a row.

Before winning this honour at the “Wuh Gine on People’s Choice Award”, Haynes explained her desire to expand the way she created art. 

She also expressed her wish to have her voice heard through her art, and indicated that until she attended the Barbados Community College, these ideas did not occur to her.

“I was conditioned to believe that the better I am at recreating cultural aspects of Barbados is how I’ll gain my respect in the art scene. Being among persons that have so many artistic points of view while at the College has influenced me to find my joy in conceptual art,” said Haynes.

The artist also credited this expanded outlook on her craft as the reason for her partnerships with other local creatives and businesses such as “Barbados Connect”, the Soca artist “Mikey”, “Taf Barbados” and various others.

In spite of these accomplishments Haynes recalled that she was originally hesitant to accept her nominations to the Artist of the Year category. “Both times I was nominated I didn’t expect to win; I was horrified once I saw the people I was running against because those are persons who are the pioneers for the creative space here in Barbados,” Haynes said.

The artist added that she had wanted to appeal, and have her name taken off the nomination list but was reminded by a tutor at the college, that doing so would be unappreciative to the people who supported her.

“After that conversation I just let everything play out and when I won, I was speechless but I’m grateful for the opportunities it has provided for me to evolve my artistry,” Haynes added.

With these accolades, Haynes wishes to now expand her brand internationally and also change how traditional art is seen by both the locals and tourists.