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Curator's Eye 111 Opens To Rave Reviews

The exhibition Curator’s Eye 111 - Ceremony in Space, Time and Sound, which explores different dimensions in Jamaican art, opened to rave reviews at the National Gallery in Kingston.

The works of 14 artists who have stretched visual forms of art from what is normally presented in Jamaican galleries, utilize the media of film, video projection, interactive art, photographs, prints and sculptures. The theme revolves around the various types of ceremonies and rituals in Jamaica, reflecting the dynamism from which Jamaica takes its cultural character.

Much of the work is new media, that is not strictly painting and sculpture but also film animation, and the exhibition reflects the amazing powerful mixture of contemporary life. According to Dr. Jonathan Greenland, Executive Director for the Gallery, the Curator’s Eye Series is designed to bring fresh new approaches to Jamaican contemporary art. “As we know, Jamaica is a country filled with great drama, verbal eloquence, sacred rituals and skilled performance of all kinds from the stage to the street, the church to the yard.

The artists have responded to the theme in many ways using many different materials.” Artists young and old, offered their own interpretation of Jamaican spirituality and rituals. The largest mixed media installation done by Khepera Hatsheptwa called ‘Carbon Black – the Stolen Legacy’ caught quite a bit of attention.

The huge floor installation featured four life size females knelt in prayer. Oneil Lawrence’s work with black and white photography dubbed ‘Re-defined’ went over well and Rass Kassa known for his music videos also took a turn with ‘The Seen and the Unseen’, a room completely burnt out except for the television which held footage of a young girl’s visit to an obeah woman.

Jewellery designer and Edna Manley tutor Carol Campbell’s work ‘Drum beat of an Island’ represented mixed media comprising the busts of young strong African men and women. Ebony Patterson’s ‘Bulletz and Shellz’ - huge blown up photographs of bare-chested young men with their faces ‘bleached’, dressed in urban street wear of boxers and pencil foot pants rolled up, was also well appreciated. On the floor were hundreds of spent shells mixed in with tampons, symbolic of the relationship between sex and violence.

The most controversial piece however had a warning for parents not to allow small children to view the contents of the room as Lawrence Graham-Brown pushed the dimensions of Jamaica’s comfort zone on the issue of homosexuality with ‘Niggah Deh Winner’, a gender bending mixed media installation about what really qualifies as ‘masculine’

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