This piece was created for The Piccolo Gallery’s commission call themed 'Hidden,' an open prompt inviting artists to interpret the idea in their own way.
The painting shows a woman of colour with natural hair decorated with bright tropical flowers. She looks off into the distance against a bold golden-yellow background. Painted in acrylic, the piece is vibrant, warm, and full of striking contrast. This painting challenges Western beauty norms by celebrating women of color.
This piece is ideal for anyone who values art with both visual impact and cultural depth. Its rich, vibrant palette and striking portraiture celebrate the beauty and strength of women of color, making it a meaningful addition to any space.
John's work will be available for purchase at our Community Online Auction in Oct 2026. Purchases help uplist an everyday artist and fuel The Piccolo Gallery's commission model.
Beauty is shaped by culture and power. In North America, dominant beauty standards have long centered a narrow ideal of white femininity—an idea rooted not in biology, but in history. Early racial theorists such as Christoph Meiners and Johann Blumenbach positioned whiteness as the most 'beautiful', linking it to purity and superiority. These beliefs became embedded in Western culture and continue to influence modern ideals.
Resistance to these standards emerged during the Civil Rights era, particularly through the natural hair movement, which affirmed Blackness and rejected colonial definitions of beauty. Women of color, often excluded from early feminist movements, organized independently and played a vital role in advancing civil rights. Their work recognized beauty as a form of power—one that can grant or deny access, visibility, and opportunity.
This painting challenges Western beauty norms by celebrating women of color and expanding what beauty can look like. The figure is intentionally ethnically ambiguous—she could be Caribbean, African, or East Indian—but she represents all women of color. With dark eyes, full lips, a wide nose, and natural, untamed afro, she does not conform to traditional Western standards, yet she is undeniably beautiful.
Traditional Caribbean flowers surround her, reinforcing the visual language of non-white beauty and cultural pride. This painting is dedicated to women of color, in the hope that they see their own beauty reflected and affirmed within it.
Tyler John Sebastian Sures, born in Ottawa, Ontario, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Ottawa (2008), a Masters of Fine Arts from the Utrecht School of Fine Arts & Design in the Netherlands (2009), and a Master’s in Digital Media and Communication from Toronto Metropolitan University (Formerly Ryerson University) (2014). His work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Dutch Artistic Research Event 4 and the Dutch Design Double Biennial in Utrecht and Amsterdam, and the Vancouver Mural Festival: The Black Strathcona Resurgence Project. He has work is represented in collections in London, England, Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver and Jamaica.
John Sebastian’s practice is rooted in the exploration of minority experiences and their representation in mass media. Drawing from photographs, video, and especially old family images, his work reflects on themes of identity, colorism, and the psychological legacies of colonialism. Born to a Jamaican mother and Canadian father, and raised between Jamaica and Canada, he brings a personal perspective to these issues, blending memory, history, and lived experience.
His research-based practice critically engages with the enduring impacts of colonialism and the ways race continues to shape identity, representation, and belonging. By interrogating the absence of racialized bodies in dominant visual traditions, his work seeks to challenge historical exclusions and question how cultural memory is constructed. Through the use of bold colour, contrast, and references to his Caribbean heritage, Sebastian creates spaces where marginalized identities are not only made visible but are reasserted with dignity and agency, destabilizing narratives imposed by colonial history and mass media.
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