Veerle Poupeye's blog about art in the Caribbean and beyond
Oliver Myrie - Facing Us, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 162 x 145 cm (Image Courtesy of the National Gallery of Jamaica) When The Face of Us was announced by the National Gallery of Jamaica as an upcoming juried exhibition, mid last year, I was admittedly skeptical. The recent curatorial debacles of the populist, dramatically uneven... Continue Reading →
Giovanni Marrozzini - President and Secretary of a New Farmers’ Cooperative Created with Microcredit, Abam village, Cameroon, 2010 For some years now, a remarkable black and white photograph of two older black women, dressed in work clothes and each brandishing a machete, while holding hands, has been circulating on social media. That the women are... Continue Reading →
Detail of Lest We Forget (Photo: Veerle Poupeye) On February 27, I attended the unveiling of the Lest We Forget monument at the Joy Spence Appleton Rum Experience in Nassau Valley, St Elizabeth. The monument, which commemorates the persons who were enslaved at Appleton, was designed and executed by a young Jamaican sculptor, Trishaunna Henry,... 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 →
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 →
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 →
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