Woody in Stony Hill, early 1980s (NGJ files, photographer unknown)
Born May 1, 1919, in Castleton, St Mary, Jamaica, and died September 18, 1998, William “Woody” Joseph was one of modern Jamaica’s most original artists, although his work was firmly rooted in African-Jamaican religious and cultural traditions.
Life and Work
Woody was self-taught and started carving around 1965 or, as he put it, “two years after [hurricane] Flora”. He recounted:
I was farming … yam, banana, cocoa, thyme, cane, dasheen, potato … farming to get the food from the bushes … didn’t have no dependents to work the field wid me … and one day, I tek sick, the two legs cripple. Couldn’t walk, couldn’t stand up, couldn’t lay down … I go to the river-side and was praying. When mi was praying, I see a piece of wood coming down in de water … I see the piece of wood swimming in the water to mi. I tek it up….and form a bird.
(Homage to Woody, Mutual Life Galley, July 26, 1998) Continue reading
