Veerle Poupeye's blog about art in the Caribbean and beyond
Damaged balustrade at Devon House Whenever I have a chance, I drive past Vale Royal to see if there has been any progress with the long-promised and much-needed renovations, after the catastrophic collapse of the portico earlier this year. It is painfully obvious that nothing has been done. Some hoarding, consisting of board and fabric,... Continue Reading →
Vale Royal in better days (image source: Wikimedia) Just over a week ago, the collapse of the Vale Royal portico, on the day of local government elections in Jamaica no less, caused a viral furor on social media. The collapse was beyond embarrassing, in terms of how it reflects on Jamaica’s heritage management and also... 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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