Alumni Spotlight: La Vaughn Belle,
“Reclaiming History Through Art”
Meet The Artist
La Vaughn Belle is a renowned visual artist based in the Virgin Islands. Born in Tobago and raised on St. Thomas and St. Croix, La Vaughn has cultivated a multidisciplinary art practice that includes painting, installation, sculpture, video, writing, and performance. Her work delves into themes of colonial histories, memory, and identity-positioning the Caribbean not only as a travel destination, but as a powerful historical and cultural space.
A Creative Calling
Although La Vaughn initially entered Columbia University as a pre-med student, her heart had always been drawn to art. Growing up in the Virgin Islands gave La Vaughn a front-row seat to the complexities of paradise and post-colonial reality. “The Virgin Islands is layered with history, resistance, and cultural fusion,” she says. “That duality-of paradise and colonial legacy-shapes my work.”
Growing up in the Virgin Islands gave La Vaughn a front-row seat to the complexities of paradise and post-colonial reality. “The Virgin Islands is layered with history, resistance, and cultural fusion,” she says. “That duality-of paradise and colonial legacy-shapes my work.” La Vaughn’s pieces often incorporate historically charged materials such as Danish archives, fragments of colonial architecture, and even elements from the geography of the islands. Through this, she creates alternative narratives and reclaims space for voices often overlooked.
Through projects like, “I Am Queen Mary,” La Vaughn highlights women’s labor, empowerment, and historical resistance. She is currently working on expanding her installation, “The House That Freedom Built,” commissioned by the Smithsonian, with hopes of one day making it a permanent installation in St. Croix.
Connect with La Vaughn
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upcoming exhibits, and powerful storytelling through art.
Art is a form of resistance, of preservation, and of imagining new possibilities. In the Virgin Islands, where so much of our history has been written from the outside, art allows us to tell our own stories. It keeps our culture dynamic, ensuring that we are not just defined by history but also by how we choose to move forward.