Private View: Jamaican Spiritual

 

'Jamaican Spiritual' opened tonight at St Stephen Walbrook with a Private View in which curator Theresa Roberts opened the exhibition and poetic lawyer David Neita surveyed the exhibition.

Theresa Roberts says: 'The show is made up of painting,sculpture and photography highlighting the strong spiritual nature of Jamaica and it's people. Whilst predominantly Christian, Jamaica is home to a wide variety of religions which coexist peacefully. The variety of spiritual beliefs held on the island reflect the diverse nature of the people who live there and the motto of the country "Out of many we are one". Whilst spirituality is the overriding theme the exhibition inevitably also offers a compelling insight into the diverse nature and vibrancy of modern Jamaica.'

David Neita states that: 'Art is imagined, created, gifted, exchanged, bought, sold, admired, critiqued, taught, practised and discussed every day in Jamaica, and many of its themes focus on the settings, rituals and surrounding circumstances of the Jamaican faith experience. The artists in this exhibition were exposed to diverse spiritual sources, which were etched in their memories and hard-wired in their cultural reflexes as they grew up in the respective urban and rural contexts of their shared homeland. This powerful experience ultimately inspired the themes of their amazing work ... Enjoy the depictions of faith in these wonderful works of art as you discover your spirituality within.'

Edward Lucie-Smith writes that: 'the show ... features, in more obviously specific guises, the spirituality that pervades a great deal of the art produced in Jamaica, as well as its frequent resistance to being categorised as ‘ethnic’ – i.e. as in some way necessarily Africanising. The images are about seeing Jamaica as it actually is – not as some lost fragment of African culture, transferred intact to a different hemisphere.

Where the idea of Africa is stressed, it is to make a theological statement. Christopher Lawrence’s icon-like portrayal of an African Christ declares that Christ exists as a Saviour for all mankind.

Marlon James’ Trio offers sociological, not theological instruction. It shows three Jamaican women, wearing identical pink uniforms that suggest that they may perhaps be nurses, or even actual church emissaries, as they stroll past the gates that enclose a handsome Victorian church, which stands in a garden with clipped hedges, a bougainvillea vine in full bloom and a number of palm trees. If you choose to read it that way, the image suggests both the surviving Anglo-Colonial element in Jamaican society and also the fact the Christian faith is a non-exotic, everyday presence there. Both images tell one much about Jamaica as it is now, without pushing the point.'

St Stephen Walbrook is hosting this exhibition of Jamaican spiritual art arranged by Art Jamaica  until 14 July 2017. The exhibition has been curated by Art Jamaica founder Theresa Roberts who has included mainly new work from young Jamaican artists but will also be featuring selected work from her own extensive collection.

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