‘Narrative Evolutions’ Exhibition to Open Sunday May 28, 2023

The National Gallery of Jamaica is inviting you to the soft opening of the exhibition Narrative Evolutions on Sunday May 28, 2023 which takes a look at its recent acquisitions. Doors will be open from 10am – 2pm. Admission is free. 

The National Art Collection is a continuing narrative of developments in Jamaica’s social, economic and cultural life. The NGJ inherited the core of its collection from the Institute of Jamaica upon its inception in 1974 and the majority of its subsequent acquisitions have been made through generous donations from Collectors and Artists.

Narrative Evolutions is primarily constituted of donations received between 2018-2022 and will contextualise a selection of these acquisitions alongside previous acquisitions. The juxtaposition of these works illustrates the Gallery’s continuing mandate for its collection to comprehensively represent the evolving realities of Jamaica and its Diaspora. 

The exhibition includes new works by David Boxer, Leonard Daley, Albert Huie, Michael Lester, Ebony G. Patterson, Sylvester Stephens among others. These donations to the National Collection came from the following donors: Wayne and Myrene Cox, The David Boxer/Onyx Foundation and Jessica and Sebastian Ogden in memory of Annabella and Peter Proudlock.

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Happy Labour Day

Image: Edna Manley – The Diggers, 1936 (detail)

Happy Labour Day from the National Gallery of Jamaica. The theme for 2023 is ‘Plant a Tree for Life: Promoting Climate Change Mitigation, Food Security and Road Safety’ and though we may not all have the space to plant a tree, there’s always room for home gardening—house plants included—community building or practising road safety today.

Closed for Labour Day

In observance of Labour Day the National Gallery of Jamaica will be closed tomorrow Tuesday May 23, 2023. We will resume our regular opening hours on Wednesday May 24, 2023.

Happy International Museums Day

This year the theme for International Museum Day is “Museums, Sustainability and Well-being”.

Museums provide visitors with the opportunity to view and engage with art or artefacts in a way that stimulates them both visually and mentally. It is an immersive space that can pull visitors into another world, evoke emotions and encourage new thoughts or ideas. The space allows visitors a moment of relaxation and has been shown to reduce cortisol levels. In fact, viewing artwork has been linked to a 10% increase of blood flow to the brain, indicating the promotion of positive emotions.

So if you aren’t quite feeling 100% consider visiting a museum and engaging with artwork. What thoughts or ideas get brought to mind? How does the artwork or the space make you feel? Does a specific work resonate with you?

Happy Mother’s Day

Image: Michael Lester – Gladioli, c1965 (detail)

Happy Mother’s Day to the women who have laboured, to the women who have nurtured and to the women who have been a maternal figure in someone’s life. We cherish you each day, but today especially we give you flowers.

2023 Exhibition Calendar

In an effort to keep you, our patrons, more informed of what’s to come, the National Gallery of Jamaica has released its 2023 Exhibition Calendar. There are two scheduled exhibitions to look forward to for the remainder of the year and they are Narrative Evolutions —an NGJ curated exhibition which opens this month— and The Face Us —a submission based exhibition which is slated to open in December.

Narrative Evolutions

The National art collection is a continuing narrative of developments in Jamaica’s social, economic and cultural life. The NGJ inherited the core of its collection from the Institute of Jamaica upon its inception in 1974 and the majority of its subsequent acquisitions have been made through generous donations from collectors and artists.

The exhibition Narrative Evolutions is primarily constituted of donations made 2018-2022 and will contextualize a selection of the NGJ’s recent acquisitions alongside previous acquisitions. The juxtaposition of these works illustrates the gallery’s mandate for its collection to comprehensively represent the evolving realities of Jamaica and its Diaspora. 

The Face of Us

The NGJ Open Call 2023 exhibition invites Jamaican artists to compete for a chance to showcase their visual works via a group exhibition. The title of this year’s open call – The Face of Us – is a prompt intended to encourage aspiring exhibitors to use Portraiture as the main image approach.

It is anticipated that the Artists will create and submit portrait works that express the personal and social responses of Jamaicans to the cultural and economic realities of life as Jamaicans within the last three years; whether in local or international contexts. 

We look forward to what is in store for the remainder of 2023 and will post further details on both exhibitions soon. Keep an eye out for updates here on our blog and all of our social media platforms.