The story of Jamaica's shifting identity is told through the works of 15 artists in an exhibition that is center stage in Opa-Locka during Miami Art Week.
Ten North Group is hosting its third annual Art of Transformation event. The series explores the connection between literature from Africa or the African diaspora and visual art.
This year’s theme, Black Aliveness and the Aesthetics of Being, takes inspiration from Kevin Quashie's Black Aliveness, or A Poetics of Being.
In this book, Quashie presents a world where being Black exists without being tied to Anti-Black violence. He emphasizes Black life without focusing on the things that bring death and dread.
"Jamaica On My Mind: Aliveness and Livity" is a featured exhibition. It is curated around several generations of Jamaican artists from the 50s and 60s to contemporary artists and their ideas of what it means to be Jamaican.
Among the works exhibited are the graphite and charcoal piece Cemented by Camille Chedda and the oil painting Shadow of Thoughts by Kimani Beckford.
Professor Phillip Thomas of the Edna Manley School of Art in Kingston, Jamaica, the exhibit's curator, says the artists share their artistic perceptions of the moment of accomplishment. It's about highlighting those moments that lead to new paths and eras.
He says this theme came out of the pandemic, as they decided to put on an exhibition for the young artists to express what they were experiencing. He saw the creation of a group of young artists who were impacted by the pandemic and struggling with concepts of the future.
"When you take all of those things into consideration, you understand that you're really dealing with the kind of generation that is at a turning point," Thomas said. "And that turning point needs to be articulated in such a way that they can at least derive some hope or some concept of the future going forward."
He says that Jamaica has a large footprint on the world stage, which includes musical and religious exports such as ska, reggae, and Rastafarianism. This propels the country's brand, but it also creates stereotypes that make it hard to break from.
“And this often means that Jamaicans have to, in a way, articulate their own Jamaican-ness in relation to what is expected on the world stage,” he said. “And so the exhibition sort of tackles some of those themes of Jamaican-ness or ways of being.”
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Thomas said when Jamaica gained independence from the United Kingdom, in 1962, art became focused on nation-building. Rastafarianism was also gaining greater visibility at the time, which further developed the nation’s cultural tapestry.
Another shift took place in the 1980s, he explained, as art shifted from the notion of nation-building to individual understanding — which showed how contemporary Jamaican art could articulate not just statehood but also individualism.
“And so the exhibition sort of crafts an idea between artists that were engaged in state building or nation building, and all sorts of artists that were trying to find their own place in this new state that was being built,” he said.
IF YOU GO
What: Jamaica On My Mind: Aliveness and Livity
Where: 650 Ali Baba Avenue, Opa-locka, FL 33054
When: until Sunday, December 8
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