Detail of a work by Patrick Villaire at his studio (photo: Veerle Poupeye) This post was first published in the Jamaica Monitor of February 6, 2022. It is now reproduced here with a few updates and corrections. The occasion for my trip to Haiti, which ended on February 4, was my role in the Caribbean... Continue Reading →
Museum Boards: Assets or Liabilities?
Art museum boards have recently come under significant scrutiny in many parts of the world, mainly because of their association with wealth and power, the sources of that wealth and power, as well as governance issues, such as conflict of interest breaches, intrigues, and abuse of power. The Strike MoMA protests in NYC, for instance,... Continue Reading →
Provocations: Decolonize this Place!
For a number of years now, the Institute of Jamaica, which is the parent organization of the National Gallery of Jamaica and other Jamaican museums, has been hosting an annual Heritage Fest, as part of the Ministry of Culture's Heritage Month observations. This is normally a live event but since the Institute of Jamaica and... Continue Reading →
Provocations: A Crisis in Museum Governance?
Art museums have, for quite some time now, been under intense critical scrutiny over the ideological content of their exhibitions and programmes, and over how they relate to audiences, in terms of who they speak to and for. More recently, the critical gaze has shifted, initially to museum boards, and the socio-economic and political interests... Continue Reading →
Preserving Jamaica’s Artistic Heritage
This post is adapted from the paper I have recently presented at the "Regional Workshop on the Conventions on the Illicit trafficking of Cultural Objects", which was hosted by the Jamaican Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport. This workshop was held at the Jamaica Pegasus, from March 2-5, 2020. Among the topics for discussion... Continue Reading →
The National Gallery of Jamaica: Some Notes on Governance and Institutional History
It appears that sometime in June this year, there were two major staff appointments at the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ): O'Neil Lawrence, who previously served as Senior Curator, was promoted to Chief Curator, and Dr Jonathan Greenland, who had been acting as Executive Director since shortly after I left, became Senior Director. This first... Continue Reading →