O’Kane’s love letter to Barbados

According to Barbados Nation, There is a particular kind of Barbados that Gail O’Kane has spent more than 50 years chasing. It lives in the weathered boards of an old chattel house. It hides behind a brightly-painted shop-front, beneath a hand-lettered sign or inside the fading colours of a building that has quietly stood witness to generations, and O’Kane has made it her mission to notice. She came to Barbados for the first time in 1972 and said she was immediately captivated by the island’s beauty – particularly its colourful chattel houses. “I was fascinated by their individuality, vibrant colours and the meticulous care with which chattels were maintained. Each seemed to have had its own personality and story to tell,” she recalled. That first encounter would become much more than a holiday memory. It became a love affair. A naturalised citizen, she has watched the island change over more than five decades. As bu