Leanna Lewis: A Passion for Painting ‘The Unseen Ordinary’ Exhibition

By Stuart Wilson

Leanna Lewis wrapped up a month-long art exhibition at the Mind’s Eye Historic Site and Art Gallery on Friday, July 3rd.

The exhibition, which was first unveiled during Cayman Art Week, featured pieces centered around the theme of ‘life in Cayman from a local perspective’ and some of the everyday activities and places that are not usually featured.

Entitled ‘The Unseen Ordinary’, the pieces were described as a mixed exhibition that shifts attention away from the postcard image of the Cayman Islands. Instead, the work explores the everyday scenes, objects and moments that quietly shape local life and memory.

Through paintings inspired by observation, nostalgia and lived experience, the exhibition captures an overlooked side of Cayman: corner stores, roadside moments, familiar foods, neighborhood textures, and ordinary spaces people pass every day without a second thought.

“The unseen ordinary invites viewers to reconsider what is worthy of being documented and remembered, revealing beauty, identity and meaning within the familiar realities of everyday Caymanian life,” noted the curatorial statement accompanying the pieces.

“I just wanted to do scenes and moments people don’t see nowadays. People always have Seven Mile Beach and Rum Point but I wanted to do scenes that defined the Cayman and Caymanians that we grew up with and that we know,” remarked Leanna.

“Everybody would go to Mr. Willie’s to get julie and namdock mangoes, and everybody remembers eating mango and sauce on the playground at school. Everybody also loves swanky, and the Hell gas station is like a trademark of West Bay,” she added.

The colours used in the exhibit are rich in texture and pop out at the viewer in a way that draws the eye closer. This is something that Leanna said is part of her style.

“I just love colours. I like vibrant colours. It’s just me and it defines my personality because I am very creative,” she remarked, adding that she was actually coming off a 12 year hiatus from painting.

As Leanna explained, she was doing design and video work previously but decided to go back to her roots with painting. She noted that she was also involved in pastel work in pencil before deciding to delve into the painting world.

“Photography, design work, and anything creative are my passions.”

The paintings featured in “The Unseen Ordinary,” are done in acrylic.

Contact Leanna via her Instagram pages:

@visualparadisestudio and @created.bylea.

Prints, as well as the original pieces, are available.

Leanna also does commissioned pieces. Anyone interested in having a painting done in the style being displayed at the exhibition is encouraged to reach out to her.