“When I walk in here I get the sense of The Bahamas; I get a sense of pride,” said ceramicist Jessica Colebrooke while on the new second floor of the Marlborough Street McDonald’s on a recent busy morning.
Colebrooke, who creates souvenirs and fine art pieces through her company, Jessica’s Tileworks, is largely responsible for the sense of pride she gets on entering the fast food restaurant these days. The establishment’s re-vamped interior décor features a series of her cultural tile mosaics.
While Bahamian life teems outside of its doors, similar scenes usher a burst of native color indoors. A tribute to marine life greets customers who enter the downtown McDonald’s in Colebrooke’s Junkanoo twist on the spiny lobster, Nassau grouper and red snapper. Upstairs, the artist channels the Boxing Day and New Year’s Day parades with tile portraits of vibrant Junkanooers a-lit in their famously vivid colors.
Since signing on to McDonald’s re-imaging project last summer, the artist has spent months burrowing deeper into the rhythms of her country. Colebrooke submitted a series of sketches to be approved locally and internationally by the restaurant chain. She derives much of her pride in the project from the creative license the company granted her in generating the images.
