John Ivesmail's Essay

On the eve of the new millennium where personal communication has been maligned to a piecemeal vernacular distributed through tiny plastic boxes whilst the skill of an artist has been reduced to their ability to literally apply excrement to a canvas, I do not hesitate to say that Naomi's work reaffirms my faith in art and its ability to speak volumes about both the subjective and the universal. The extensive duration I have spent in the company of Naomi and her artwork has provided ample personal opportunity to elucidate what it is that about her constructions that leaves me with such a devotional condition. Naomi's diligent pursuit of the essence, of defining her own experience of reality through artistic creation, reminds me of that most basic, yet so essential, civic capacity: an individual's ability to express their emotions through whichever means they deem necessary, no matter what shackles their immediate surroundings place upon them. If anything is to be gained from the experience of viewing with one's own eyes the artist's exertions, then it should be that free expression is a choice we all are obliged to respect. Naomi's persecution at the hands of schoolteachers, friends and, eventually, her family should lead every last one of us to declare our right, nee obligation, to report our truth, no matter what the consequence, and to allow others to do the same. It is with these sentiments that I give you the work of an unprecedented talent whose development was sadly curtailed at such a premature age. I give you Miss Naomi V. Jelish.