In 2010, I left these shores, transiting through Barbados where I was held for a long while by immigration before being led into the departure lounge for my flight to Gatwick. I consoled myself with the thought that the Barbadian immigration officials thought my sojourn in the UK of such importance that I should be sequestered lest the temptations of their island cause me to miss my flight to the larger island. Little did they know, I was happy to be a recipient of their ‘help’ because I was perfectly ‘full-eye,’ desiring the bigger of the two islands.
My reason for travelling to the bigger of the two islands was to study. I was a recipient of a Commonwealth Scholarship to pursue post-graduate studio art studies. My destination once on the bigger of the two islands was Kingston University, London (KU) and not Central Saint Martin (CSM). I had been in a toss-up between the two: a university with a strong art programme or a highly reputed art school. A university meant diversity of academic scholarship, whereas art school meant immersion in the disciplines of visual art only. I was undecided between these two offers so I allowed my scholarship provider, the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) to decide.