Moses Quiquine was born to a family of Bajan and French Guadeloupe heritage in London in 1996. Despite receiving no formal art education, Quiquine gained invaluable skills in tailoring and intricate handwork while training under the tutelage of costume designer Denis Bruno from 2017 to 2018. Quiquine's work defies the traditional distinction between art and fashion. He draws inspiration from museum collections and incorporates multilayered historical references, creating sculptural fashion design and large-scale tapestries.
Mixed media artist and fashion designer Moses Quiquine was born to a family of Bajan and French Guadeloupe heritage in London in 1996 and brought up in a Buddhist household in Camden. He was heavily influenced by his mother, Chantal Quiquine, a stylist who owned a vintage couture archive that would play a significant role in shaping his work and creative process. Despite not receiving a formal education in art, Quiquine gained invaluable skills in tailoring and intricate handwork while under the tutelage of costume designer Denis Bruno from 2017 to 2018.
Quiquine's work defies the traditional distinction between art and fashion. He draws inspiration from museum collections and incorporates multilayered historical references, creating sculptural fashion designs and large-scale tapestries. His artistic approach revolves around the emotional interaction and conflict inherent in the process of repurposing devalued and discarded materials, offering deep insights into themes such as ritual, identity, representation, and mysticism, all tied to Black aesthetics. Quiquine's creative process resembles piecing together a jigsaw. He gathers found objects that 'already radiate an emotion, an idea' and that 'are not just isolated within space' (Yale British Art). These items are then carefully arranged and intertwined to compose a piece, a process which may span several months until the final artwork is completed. Rich in imagery from Caribbean culture, Quiquine's practice involves a complex multi-media amalgamation of couture skills and fashion expertise, along with rediscovered items, thereby connecting with the syncretic symbolism embodied in the sacred art of voodoo.
In 2019, Quiquine made his debut with the exhibition Voodoo Child at the Africa Centre in London. The inspiration for this show stemmed from his exploration of revered voodoo sites and shrines on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, his mother's place of origin. Quiquine explained that the exhibition signified a deliberate attempt at self-reinvention, akin to a post-traumatic rebirth; ‘the nightmares [of my earlier work] were so much closer to the surface. […] Back then, when I wanted to create art, I just went straight towards unhealed trauma. That isn’t the case now. I strongly believe that the artist’s duty isn’t so much to encourage or perpetuate trauma in others, but rather to serve as some kind of inspiration: to encourage healing’ (as cited in Asibong 2019). According to Quiquine, Voodoo is not only a religion but also an art form: ‘You can stumble on a shrine by the beach made up of ordinary materials. It made me think of voodoo as a creative force – you take clothing, bits of animal hair and so on to create an art piece’ (Angela Cobbinah Blog). His textile sculptures consist of an intricate blend of seemingly unrelated objects – incorporating such diverse items as blue plastic shopping bags, film negatives, a dog's jawbone, 1920s Chinese embroidery, along with sequins and glass beading – all meticulously crafted and laden with symbolism. Quiquine views the narrative woven by these objects as a reflection of his life journey, a story he hopes others can interpret and experience in their own unique way. One notable piece was titled Sahar World, with 'Sahar' being a Sanskrit term denoting 'to bear, to endure'. The work included three figures: one lying nude on the ground; a priest standing over this prone figure; and a third person standing, watching. Quiquine has described these figures as 'pieces of me' (as cited in Asibong 2019).
During 2019–20, Quiquine served as artist-in-residence at the Victoria and Albert Museum, culminating in a display entitled Sourcing Beauty. His final piece, Gabrielle, with its landscape and narrative imagery, was an embodiment of the dialogues that occurred between the varied objects he encountered across the museum's vast collections. It also drew inspiration from the exhibition Tim Walker: Wonderful Things showcased at the V&A in 2020. The canyon area of the piece was inspired by Indian miniature paintings featured in the show, while the figure of a woman holding a shotgun in the bottom left corner represented his grandmother, who had Indian ancestry. The cartoon-like figures in pink and blue were derived from a remnant of a Hermès scarf designed by American artist Kermit Oliver, one of the few Black artists whose work has featured on products from the luxury brand. Oliver's work often portrayed Native Americans, and Quiquine saw these figures as almost alien-like renditions. His intention was to facilitate the cohabitation of all these figures within his piece and the world he had conjured up. A variety of different materials, including silk, glass beading, and plastic were utilised, suggesting a cultural amalgamation and a connection to his own heritage. In 2021, Quiquine was included in Maker’s Eye: Stories of Craft at the Crafts Council Gallery in London. His work is not currently represented in UK public collections.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Moses Quiquine]
Publications related to [Moses Quiquine] in the Ben Uri Library