At the opening of the Jamaica Jamaica! exhibition in February 2022 This post was initially published in two parts in the Monitor Tribune of January 15 and 22, 2023. It is published here with a few minor changes. Internationally, 2022 has been a fantastic year for the artists of the Global Caribbean, with an unprecedented... Continue Reading →
The Inaugural Kingston Biennial
Nari Ward - Windward (2022), Kingston Biennial The original version of this post was published in four installments in what was then the Jamaica Monitor, now the Monitor Tribune, in four installments between July 2 and 23, 2022. A few minor changes have been made. A Limited Outlook I left the June 26 opening of... Continue Reading →
Provocations: Friends and Combolo?
The National Gallery of Jamaica used to be criticized severely for catering primarily to an inner circle of favored artists, collectors and other associates. Annie Paul was once one of the National Gallery's fiercest critics on that count and she took on the Chief Curator David Boxer on many occasions. Since 2016, Paul sits on... Continue Reading →
Provocations: “The National Gallery Nah Keep Again?”
At the opening of the Jamaica, Jamaica exhibition "The National Gallery nah keep again?", said one artist scathingly; another quipped if "the National Gallery had been postponed?"; and yet another marveled at how a postponement announcement could also be a museum's first public announcement about a particular exhibition. They were all responding to the National... Continue Reading →
Provocations: What about the Kingston Biennial?
Some time in late 2018, the National Gallery of Jamaica decided to cancel the Jamaica Biennial, of which two editions had been held, in 2014 and 2017. The Jamaica Biennial was the re-conceptualized successor to the National Biennial and, before that, the Annual National Exhibitions. While still hamstrung by the expectations and entitlements that had... Continue Reading →