Exhibition a collaborative venture involving several organisations

A collection of five art pieces under the theme ‘Reimagining Nanny’ has been unveiled at the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ) in Kingston.

The works are ‘Moonlight Meditations of Mama Nanny’ by Richard Natto, who is the 2020 Prime Minister Youth Award recipient in the category of Arts and Culture; ‘Queen Nannies’ by Leigh Goffe; ‘We Are Still Here & We Remember’ by Ibaya Art; ‘Warrior Shield VI: Queen of the Blue Mountains’ by Lisa Callender; and ‘Queen Mother Arms of Liberation’ by Nigerian painter, Segun Bamidele Aiyesan.

The collection of works was commissioned in 2022 to reimagine the National Heroine and outstanding military leader, Nanny of the Maroons, as Chiefess of Blue Mountain’s biodiversity forests and waters, and a protector of the natural environment. The project was organised by the Natural History Division of the IOJ, in collaboration with Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust and the Liberal Studies, Faculty of Arts and Science and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies of New York University in the United States.

The exhibition is now on at the IOJ and was unveiled during an opening ceremony last Sunday (November 27).

Giving an overview of the project, Exhibition Curator Dr Leo Douglas explained that the aim was to highlight the untold stories about Nanny.

Motivation for the exhibition

He said the idea came about during discussions with Chief of the Moore Town Maroons in Portland, Colonel Wallace Sterling, who said that Nanny spent a lot of time learning about the forests and community building.

“She was studying the landscape, which she had as her protection and for food – everything the Blue and John Crow Mountains was providing for them,” he posited.

Douglas reported that the artists were asked to create works that represented pride in the African heritage and contained elements of the lived experience of Nanny and others within the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park. He said 27 artists were selected from130 entrants who had indicated their interest in participating in the project.

The exhibition curator acknowledged the difficulty in narrowing that down to five works, noting that the five art pieces selected celebrate the “self-determination, Afro-indigenous retentions and the rich bio-cultural relationship histories” of the descendants of the formerly enslaved people of Jamaica and the diaspora”.

“Together these works question and present a compelling re-examination of the lived experiences of early Afro-Caribbean people within the context of historical African eco-spirituality and folklore,” Douglas posited.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange, in a message read by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Denzil Thorpe, lauded the work of the IOJ in promoting Jamaica’s “unique natural heritage and irreplaceable natural environment”.

She wrote: “We honour the positive impact of Queen Nanny on our natural environment”, adding that the National Hero epitomises the strength and determination of the everyday Jamaican woman.

Said Grange: “Granny Nanny is an excellent example of a great woman and had many admirable characteristics that we should strive to attain today.”

The exhibition is one of the yearlong events of Jamaica’s 60th anniversary celebrations under the theme ‘Jamaica 60 – Reigniting a Nation for Greatness’.