Veerle Poupeye's blog about art in the Caribbean and beyond
View of the mixed media installation Overlapping (2024) by Raúl Morilla at the National Gallery of Jamaica (photograph courtesy of Antwain Clarke) Public art museums are expected to operate with a healthy degree of curatorial autonomy, whereby the professionals at the institution are allowed to make decisions about the institution’s exhibitions, collections, and programmes, without... Continue Reading →
I had initially posted this to my Facebook timeline yesterday, where an interesting discussion ensued. Given the import of the matter, I am reposting it here in this more permanent forum. I was just at the National Gallery of Jamaica for a panel discussion related to the current Reggae Poster exhibition. If I counted correctly... Continue Reading →
At the CAG[e] gallery, circa 2008, Edna Manley College (Photo: Veerle Poupeye) In this second installment of my critical reflections on developments in the art world in 2022, I continue to focus on critical issues of governance, leadership and performance in the public cultural sector. At the core of this is the relentless politicization, in... Continue Reading →
The renovated courtyard at Devon House, as photographed by the author on December 29, 2022 This post was originally published in the Monitor Tribune on January 1 and 8, 2023. It is reproduced here with a few minor changes. There has been intense outrage on social media recently since the Devon House courtyard reopened, after... Continue Reading →
The "Out of Many, One People" Design for Jamaica's new Parliament building (image source: JIS) Reposting this from 2020, as it is again part of the discussion: Two years ago, the Government of Jamaica, launched a competition for the design of a new Parliament building, to be located in National Heroes Park. The winning proposal,... Continue Reading →
This post is adapted from the paper I have recently presented at the "Regional Workshop on the Conventions on the Illicit trafficking of Cultural Objects", which was hosted by the Jamaican Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport. This workshop was held at the Jamaica Pegasus, from March 2-5, 2020. Among the topics for discussion... Continue Reading →
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