Brad Pinnock - Stupid Box, 2022, video installation, at New Local Space, Kingston This new series puts the spotlight on the exciting young artists who have emerged in Jamaica in recent years, many of them as graduates of the Edna Manley College. The features will be based on studio visits (virtual and actual) and interviews,... Continue Reading →
The Art Year in Review – Governance and Leadership in the Public Cultural Sector
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 →
“Fons et Origo”: The 2022 School of Visual Arts Final Year Exhibition
Installation view, Jahmani Council (photographed by Robert Ayre, courtesy of the EMC) This post was first published in the Monitor Tribune (then the Jamaica Monitor) in two parts, on August 21 and August 28, 2022. It is reproduced here with minor changes and more images. Every year in June, the School of Visual Arts (SVA)... Continue Reading →
Review: The 2020 Edna Manley College Fine Arts Graduates
Rohmearo McFarlane, Independent Study, 2020, mixed media installation This article was originally published in the Jamaica Monitor, in two parts, on May 30 and June 6, 2021, respectively. More images have been added. All photographs are by Joni Gordon, courtesy of the Edna Manley College. Part I The year 2020 was a challenging year for... Continue Reading →
Panopticon: Standing in the Pandemic
Dumain Bent - Hell is Other People (2020), Mixed media installation, size irregular, c 9 x 5' Below is my foreword for the exhibition Panopticon: Standing in the Pandemic, which was curated by the students in my Introduction to Curatorial Studies course at the Edna Manley College. The exhibition is on view until May 10... Continue Reading →
Caribbean Conversations: Phillip Thomas – Part I
This is the first part of an extended conversation with the Jamaican painter Phillip Thomas. Part two can be found here.Phillip Thomas was born in 1980, in Kingston, Jamaica. He holds a BFA in Painting in 2003 from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and an MFA from the New York... Continue Reading →