New Possessions: Jamaican Artists in the U.S.

August 4, 2006 – October 29, 2006

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
New Possessions: Jamaican Artists in the U.S. celebrates the 44th anniversary of Jamaican independence by exhibiting the works of 15 contemporary Jamaican artists that, although Jamaican, choose to live and work in the United States.  The exhibition’s aim is to offer an international audience a look at Jamaican art that explores personal feelings of uprootedness and displacement. Guest curator Sarah Anita Clunis writes that “Although the personal and autobiographical play a part in the readings of these artists’ work, this exhibition is about presenting examples of contemporary Caribbean art works that exhibit a continuous tradition of art practice in the Caribbean.”   

The artists in this exhibition come from a number of different ethnic backgrounds that include Indian, African, European, Middle Eastern, Chinese, and Sephardic (Spanish Jewish).  The influences of their diverse cultural backgrounds contribute to each artist’s analysis of their diasporic experience. This investigation is expressed through the artistic medium, in this exhibition, primarily through two dimensional, abstract or abstracted works.  The exhibition features works by such renowned artists as Albert Chong and Keith Morrison as well as younger emerging artists such as Yasmin Spiro.  An important aspect of the exhibition looks at the influence of these Diaspora artists on cultural development in Jamaica.

FEATURED ARTISTS
Albert Chong
Anna Ruth Henriques
Bernard Hoyes
Bryan McFarlane
Kofi Kayiga
Peter Wayne Lewis
Karl Jerry Craig
Kaye Hanna
Keith Morrison
Michael Escoffery
Carl Neita
Donnette Cooper
Eglon Daly
Helen Elliott
Yasmin Spiro.

“New Possessions” is a collaboration between the Embassy of Jamaica and the OAS Art Museum of the Americas.  Support for the exhibit has been received from the Inter American Development Bank Cultural Center, the Inter American Culture and Development Foundation, the Jamaica National Group of Companies and the Association of Friends of the Art Museum of the Americas.