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 →
“It’s All Broken” – or, Why the Imagination Needs to Rule
"It's all broken," the child said to his mother. And right he was, as there is very little that remains intact and functional at the once bustling Kingston railway terminus on Pechon Street in downtown Kingston. The occasion was a recent guided tour, facilitated by Kingston Creative, and guided by the Jamaican architect Patrick Stanigar.... Continue Reading →
Ivanhoe Martin and the Hotel
I had lunch with a friend at the new AC Marriott Hotel today, because I wanted to see the art that was acquired for and installed in the lobby, which has received enthusiastic coverage in the local press. I had initially planned to write about it in the context of a more general post about... Continue Reading →
From the Archives: “Big Bamboo” and the Politics of Space in Fern Gully
Here is a second excerpt, on a more controversial subject and with some minor edits, from my chapter on art and tourism in my doctoral dissertation "Between Nation and Market: Art and Society in 20th Century Jamaica" (2011, Emory University). The first post can be found here. I have not been back to Fern... Continue Reading →
From the Archives: Dangerously Close to Tourist Art
I have not posted as often as I'd like recently, even though I have several new posts working on, as I have been bogged down with project and publication deadlines (and a nasty bout of flu) - not complaining about anything, except for the latter. So instead of a new post, I am presenting another... Continue Reading →
Some Thoughts on the Miss Lou Statue
Jamaica has been on a statue frenzy recently and that is, in itself, a good thing. Late last year there was the unveiling of the Usain Bolt statue at National Stadium and this will soon be followed, I gather, by the statue to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (we were initially told this would take place some... Continue Reading →