NGJ Summer Exhibition: Donnette Zacca

Donnette Zacca

Donnette Zacca – Dismantled Thoughts

Both pieces address the cosmic reality of the human spirits moving through space at random times within death and insanity.

Without much understanding of our spiritual existence, we assume we occupy the universe after our death or in times of mental instability. The knowledge of our life after death is oft times sought after. The more we understand the more bearable life becomes.

Donnette Zacca – Transitioned – Tribute to David Boxer

In death all our realities are final. Those who are left behind seek to justify who we were. A sanity we all seek.

Jamaica Biennial 2017 – Invited Artists: Donnette Zacca

Donnette Zacca – Empty Promises (n.d.) – left panel

Here is the final post in our series on the invited artists in the recently closed Jamaica Biennial 2017:

Donnette Zacca was born in 1957, in St James, Jamaica. Zacca attended the Jamaica School of Art, majoring in Graphic Design and Art Education. She also attended the Maryland Institute College of Art where she attained her MFA in 2004. She has exhibited extensively locally and overseas and has received gold, silver and bronze medals in the JCDC’s National Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition. Zacca lectured in photography at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and regularly contributes to publications, such as Small Axe, The Best of Skywritings, and the Jamaica Observer. She lives in Kingston, Jamaica.

 

Donnette Zacca – Empty Promises (n.d.) – right panel

Silver Musgrave Medal for Art: Donnette Ingrid Zacca

Donnette Zacca – Self Portrait

Donnette Zacca – Self Portrait

Donnette Zacca – Strength of Support (2008), from the Issues of Fertility series

Donnette Zacca – Untitled

Donnette Zacca – On the Sixth Day (2012, panel 1)

Donnette Zacca – Road Surfaces (2001), Collection: NGJ

Donnette Zacca – Morant Bay Courthouse (2003), Collection: NGJ

The National Gallery of Jamaica wishes to congratulate Donnette Zacca on her Silver Musgrave Medal, which was awarded today, and we are pleased to reproduce the award citation:

“The Institute of Jamaica recognizes Donnette Ingrid Zacca for outstanding merit in the field of Art”

“Born in St James in 1957, Donnette Zacca’s sojourn into photography began when she acquired her first camera while a ninth-grade student at the Mount Alvernia High School in Montego Bay. As a young country girl with a camera, she was driven to explore and discover a myriad of outdoor spaces – a practice that continues to this day as she travels to various locations across the island to capture scenes of natural beauty and sometimes otherworldly intrigue. She also produced portraiture, though mainly as a means of earning pocket money to support her new hobby.”

“From 1976 to 1980, Zacca attended the Jamaica School of Art, which is now part of the Edna Manley College, where she attained a Diploma in Art Education and Graphic Design. During these studies, she excelled in Photography, experimenting with a variety of shooting and printing techniques, including how to superimpose multiple photographic images within the same composition. After graduating, she continued her explorations, eventually developing an image-making technique of her own which she has called ‘marbling’.”

“In the late 1980s, she continued her photographic education, beginning with a course on Basic Architecture and Archaeological Photography, offered in Port Royal by the University of London (1987 – 1988). From 1988 to 1989, supported by scholarship from the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID), she attended the University of Cincinnati where she undertook studies in alternative and advanced photographic techniques. From 2000 to 2004, she pursued and acquired a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Maryland Institute College of Art.”

“Donnette Zacca has been exhibiting as a fine art photographer since the mid-1980s. Notable exhibitions in which she has maintained a consistent presence include the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s (JCDC) National Photographic Competitions and the Annual National and Biennial exhibitions of the National Gallery of Jamaica. She has also held a number of solo exhibitions, most memorable among them the Issues in Fertility exhibition at the Mutual Gallery in 2008. Her work is well represented in private as well as public collections.”

“Additionally, Donnette Zacca has contributed her photographic expertise to many national organizations, including the National Environmental and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Jamaica Environmental Trust (JET). She has received important commissions, including the creation of twelve stamps for the Jamaica Postal Service in 2003, which featured White Sorrel and historic and modern buildings in Jamaica.”