by Lvty Art
A town girl through and through, Camille Davis Yetming is unapologetic about her passions. Camille hails from Diego Martin, a suburb of Trinidad’s capital. She calls herself a Black witch; by that notion, her studio is a coven filled with simmering resin potions and healing crystals which she uses to conjure art. She specializes in resin art, which she uses in her jewelry, and her fine art pieces, ranging from ornate mandala art clocks to Christmas ornaments. Her craft was taught to her by seniors in the art form who saw the value in passing knowledge to successors. To paraphrase an Ivorian proverb, ‘when an elder dies, a library of knowledge burns with them.’ Camille is continuously educating herself and learning about resin art. Within her coven, she passes on that knowledge to her daughter, 18-year-old Zian.
This bright and spirited apprentice and multimedia artist brings the full spectrum of color to her mother’s more earthy coven of creations. Zian regularly assists Camille with her art and is learning her ways at her side, their bond as mother and daughter tightening with every ornament, clock, and creation. Although she effortlessly excels in forming stunning resin and jewelry designs, Zian finds the most joy in the modern magic of digital illustration and character design. The colorful, humanoid characters she creates are not only an outlet for her innermost thoughts and feelings but a physical manifestation of her heart.
Camille acquiesces to Zian’s passion and ability to see color in a manner that never appeared to her. In contrast, mom often captures her country’s past and natural beauty by incorporating more earth elements in her art. Camille uses sand on the various beaches in her resin art pieces to depict the landscape. She integrates Trinidad and Tobago into her work in other ways like the use of sand from different local beaches in her seascape pieces. She has taught herself the texture of the various sand grains and identified the older and younger beaches by the size of the grains and pebbles that roll onto shore. Camille says, “Macqueripe Beach is a younger beach; you can tell because it has bigger stones.” She plans to visit every beach in Trinidad and Tobago to collect sand and driftwood from the shorelines. When it comes to her creativity, Camille says, “It’s never-ending. I am always thinking of the next thing I can do. As I get up (in the morning), I write down what I want to do.” The effects of her process are present on the platforms Camille uses to showcase her work. They are always aflutter with new pieces on display. She says, “I am in mango season…bearing plenty fruit. My mango tree is filled with fruit”.
Camille feels most powerful in her studio. She has had the most amazing conversations in that space where all of her non-human babies were birthed. When she gets her hands on gemstones, sparkly things, a nice piece of resin, she can find both energy and peace in her studio.
For her, that peace is paramount in a world that often seems set against her and people like her. She jokes that her superpower is her tolerance and the ability not to let those who dig at her get under her skin. A skill she mastered when she was Zian’s age or younger through getting bullied for being different.
Like her mother and mentor, Zian has also battled her fair share of bullies — an experience likely further exasperated by the fact that she is on the autism spectrum.
“She’s artistic, and on the autistic spectrum, so it’s a play on that.” She said as she explained her nickname, ‘Artsy Spectrum.’
Though Zian’s immunity to bullies may not be as fine-tuned as Camille’s, Zian has miraculously transformed her frustrations into creative inspiration. Rather than lash out, she quite literally looks to the brighter side of life, creating vibrantly colored characters with backstories to match their striking appearances. She recognizes this as a unique ability, the power to be able to alter her reality. These imaginary cartoon-inspired entities have been very real friends to the budding artist in the moments when she has felt lonely.
Zian has a more reclusive temperament and isn’t likely to showcase her work to any and everyone. However, she is ready and willing to conjure up a healing cartoon companion for a friend or family member in need. As she struggles to find her footing as an artist (in a world where she feels she is often misunderstood) for now, encouraging feedback from those closest to her helps motivate her to keep going.
Aside from their parallel experiences with bullies, these two are further united in their passion for Black art and artists. Camille has successfully passed her unapologetic ‘blackness’ onto Zian, who delights in the recognition and praise of Black artists. As a young creator, she sees herself reflected in other artists of color and consciously designs her animated characters with more African features.
I always have my Trinidad flag. If I lose my flag, I’ll take someone else’s (Trini) flag. I’ll do that. They didn’t need it.
Camille is currently working on a project that she boasts can be passed from generation to generation. She says, “ It’s a secret. It’s so intricate and unique and totally Trinidad and Tobago.” She hopes to be the first person to introduce such a piece to the region.
Camille’s main focus however, lies squarely on creating a space for her daughter to thrive in art and in life. Recently, Zian has begun to follow her to the studio more often. Over time, the room has transformed into their communal safe space, in which the pair feel free to share and create. Feeling reassured that her most crucial life mission has been accomplished, Camille has become more confident in slowly stepping back and handing the reins over to her daughter.
Zian, who admits she was once just her mother’s reluctant helper, grows more and more motivated to finish her resin art pieces. Still, she hasn’t thrown her main forte out the window, and is currently working on the backstories and designs for some unique and innovative illustrations.
Camille is honest with her daughter on all fronts to the point of teenaged embarrassment. Even as an accomplished artist and self-proclaimed Black witch with a defiant deposition, she instantly softens when she thinks about the best compliment she ever received. It was Zian saying, “Mom, you’re actually a nice person, once I get to know you.”
To keep up with Ellimac follow her on TikTok.
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