People of the Sun - Melissa, Bird of Paradise

Melissa Alcena is a Nassau-based Bahamian portrait and documentary photographer. Her work often focuses on shifting the settler-colonial narrative of the Caribbean, and specifically The Bahamas. Alcena flips the script by directly engaging with Bahamians, putting them front and centre, showing them and her country as complex, sophisticated, and diverse. Her strong sense of colour, bright light, and deep shadow are purely homegrown, yet unexpected and nuanced. Reaching past surface appearances framed by the colonial gaze, Alcena reveals the true nature of her sitters and the nation.