Celebrating the Life of Adé Raphael

Adé Inoira Raphael (she/her) was born on April 27, 1989 in Saint Croix of the United States Virgin Islands, where she was also raised. A Caribbean-born and raised artist with roots in St. Croix, USVI and Dominica, Adé was passionate about design, creating visual art, music, dance, physics, magic and math.

Her passion for art began early in life, as she often used lines and illustrations to compliment and guide her note-taking in school. At Vassar College, where she received her Bachelor's degree in 2012, she began to dive deeper into the art world, taking an intro to art class, creating designs for people, performing, and working as an art model.

Adé's art invites the viewer into the alternate worlds of raw creation, utilizing heavy contrast and abstraction through interwoven shapes and designs. She drew inspiration from the physical and spiritual world, seeking to create renderings that express the connections and explore the intersecting definitions of worlds “seen” and “unseen” in every sense. Ade’s artwork handles themes of meditation, divinity and the alchemy of the self. While the pieces hold specific narrative, they also challenge the audience to discern and create their own in reflection.

Adé was a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed in 2015 with stage 4C nasopharyngeal carnimoa (cancer of the nasal-pharynx, lymph nodes and lungs) while living in Denver, Colorado, following a year of cancer symptoms that had been repeatedly misdiagnosed. Adé had roughly a one in 10,000 chance of surviving. Adé went through nine weeks of chemotherapy, and then seven weeks of radiotherapy and spent a year recovering from that treatment and its toll. While recovering, a followup scan showed that there was a recurrence of the cancer. Adé took part in an immunotherapy clinical trial specializing in her diagnosis, which helped Adé remain “in control” and “cancer-free”.

Although technically cancer- free, Adé struggled with mysterious and frustrating symptoms that continued to interrupt her daily life as she sought solutions and healing. Her relationship with nature and spirituality supported her and helped her find center through it all. She continued to care for her body diligently with an array of self care and movement practices including staff spinning, varied forms of physical training including jiu jitsu and mixed martial arts.

Adé started MMA fighting, ranking 5th in a tournament in Los Angeles in 2021 and later fighting in her first one on one fight in Virginia in 2022.

Adé remained passionate about performance art. In November 2022, she performed as part of the cast of Silent Sky, playing the role of Peter Shaw at the Caribbean Community Theatre in St. Croix. She also taught art classes and was featured on podcasts including Awakening our Powers.

Adé continued to create a vast collection of art, preferring the medium of black ink on white paper. She received a grant from Suffering in Silence’s ‘We’re Still Here Program’ designed to highlight artists’ work and grant them a platform for their creations. During this time, she created a coloring book with illustrations and original poetry called “Ode to Bahavani: A Journey of Creation Meditation” (which can be downloaded here). It is described as “a celebration of creation itself and an exploration of the universal energy known as “Om” in a few of its principle forms”.

Her recent nearly 3 month trip to Brazil in February of 2023 inspired her profoundly, She desired to move there in the near future.

Adé leaves us with a prolific portfolio of art that spans mediums from rap to acoustic guitar, to music video, dance and ink on paper (see collection below).