Veerle Poupeye's blog about art in the Caribbean and beyond
Devon House in 2011 (photograph: Veerle Poupeye, all rights reserved) The National Gallery of Jamaica is turning 50 this year and this article, the first in a series on the subject, reflects on the different moments, personalities and discussions that have defined its history. It is a history of which I have been a part,... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
Installation view of Dunkley Gallery, National Gallery of Jamaica, May 28, 2023 (photo: Veerle Poupeye) In my review of Narrative Evolutions at the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ), I reported that I was promised information on that exhibition, which had opened on May 28, 2023. More than three weeks later, I have still not heard... Continue Reading →
Installation view of Narrative Evolutions exhibition, National Gallery of Jamaica, It appears that my April 23, 2023 column [in the Monitor Tribune], What About the Summer Exhibition?, helped to stir some action on the part of the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ). On May 9, it published a set of flyers on social media, in... Continue Reading →
These days, I go to the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ) when there are public events and as a result, I visit only very rarely. I have actually visited twice since the start of the year, very briefly for the opening of the Art of Reggae exhibition on February 19, and for a longer visit... Continue Reading →
Perspectives 