National Gallery West, the Montego Bay branch of the National Gallery of Jamaica, is pleased to present its latest exhibition: I Shall Return Again. This exhibition explores the work of five young Jamaican artist who have been making an impact on the local and international art scene, who all hail from Western Jamaica. It will open on Sunday, September 9, 2018 at 4 pm, with opening remarks by the exhibition’s Curator O’Neil Lawrence.
Inspired by the Claude McKay poem, I Shall Return, which eloquently embodies the creative impulse being influenced by a separation from home and the almost overwhelming longing to return; this exhibition looks at the ways in which these artists work has been influenced by their experiences of “home” and also their time spent living, working and creating away from the distinctive culture of the tourist-centric North and North-West Coast of Jamaica.
Poignant and at times provocative, the dominant themes in this exhibition are the disenchantment of millennial Jamaicans, postcolonial identities viewed through the lens of tourism, gender, sexuality and violence as well as the tensions between the sacred and the subculture of dancehall. In many ways the creative output of this generation of Western Jamaican artist contemporises the artistic deconstruction of the often celebrated Jamaican stereotypes and reveal more nuanced and multifaceted perspectives on the Jamaican experience.
I Shall Return Again features many new and recent paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography and film by the following artists, Monique Gilpin, Leasho Johnson, Nile Saulter, Storm Saulter and Cosmo Whyte.
The September 9 opening reception for I Shall Return Again at National Gallery West is free and open to the public and all are cordially invited to attend. The exhibition will continue until November 2018. National Gallery West is located at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre, Sam Sharpe Square. Opening hours are: Tuesdays to Sundays, from 9 am to 5 pm. Admission fees apply on regular days.
General Contact information:Call: 876 940 6402, Email: montegobaycc@gmail.com, Website: montegobayculturalcentre.org
