Art and Emancipation: Isaac Mendes Belisario and his Worlds returned to Jamaica after a successful showing at the Yale Center for British Art in the USA. An abridged, retitled and amended version of the show opened at the National Gallery of Jamaica this week. I had the privilege of seeing both shows and reviewing the massive companion book/catalogue, (look for this soon in the Jamaica Journal).
The difference between both exhibitions is more than curatorial style but rather to do with perspectives on the past. Yale's curators have documented the colonial art of 18th century Jamaica rigorously leaning more towards Europe and a British art history. As a counter and complement to the Yale narrative the NGJ has retained its Materialising Slavery exhibition thereby allowing contemporary artists to reflect on issues related to slavery, memory and identity. Both displays raise issues about the right to reinterpret the past especially when 'histories' of the Caribbean are so interwoven and complex, and both, beg the question about who, if anyone, has the greater claim to this history? Either way, this is a must see, must read event and the exhibition runs until12 April.