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 →
“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 →
About That Devon House Courtyard Debacle
The renovated courtyard at Devon House, as photographed by the author on December 29, 2022 This post was originally published in the Monitor Tribune on January 1 and 8, 2023. It is reproduced here with a few minor changes. There has been intense outrage on social media recently since the Devon House courtyard reopened, after... Continue Reading →
Bewigged – Greg Bailey’s Post-colonial Paraphernalia
Greg Bailey - Lady Locks (2021) I am privileged to have been invited to curate the debut solo exhibition of the Jamaican artist Greg Bailey is entitled Post-Colonial Paraphernalia. The exhibition explores the lingering effects of colonial symbols and and features ten new oil paintings and one drawing. The exhibition is on view at Creativ... Continue Reading →
Memoirs: William “Woody” Joseph (1919-1998)
This article was first published in the Jamaica Monitor of October 3, 2021. William “Woody” Joseph – Angel, c1990, private collection (photo: Veerle Poupeye) When I first met the self-taught Jamaican wood-sculptor William Joseph in the mid-1980s, he was living in a bamboo shack near the river in Stony Hill. Woody, as he was affectionately... Continue Reading →
Philip Wickstead – Portrait of Benjamin and Mary Pusey (c1775)
Philip Wickstead – Portrait of Benjamin and Mary Pusey, c1775, National Gallery of Jamaica (photo: Veerle Poupeye) An earlier version of this article was published in the Jamaica Monitor of September 5, 2021 This week, I start a new series in which I explore and contextualize famous and less well-known works of Jamaican art. The... Continue Reading →