The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing is hosting its 2013 Rex Nettleford Arts Conference under the theme “The Creative Industries: Sustainability and Social Transformation,” on October 16-18, 2013. National Gallery of Jamaica has partnered with the Edna Manley College to present a panel discussion on the critical issues arising from its current New Roots: 10 Emerging Artists exhibition. This panel discussion will take place at the National Gallery on Friday, October 18 from 11:00am to 12:30pm. The gallery is located at 12 Ocean Boulevard, Block C, Kingston, Jamaica.

Description: The panel will consist of Matthew McCarthy, one of the artists in the exhibition, Petrona Morrison, the Director of the Edna Manley College’s School of Visual Arts, and the exhibition curators Veerle Poupeye, O’Neil Lawrence, and Nicole Smythe-Johnson.

New Roots: 10 Emerging Artists, which was recently extended to November 2, 2013, features work by Deborah Anzinger, Varun Baker, Camille Chedda, Gisele Gardner, The Girl and the Magpie, Matthew McCarthy, Olivia McGilchrist, Astro Saulter, Nile Saulter and Ikem Smith who are all under 40 years old and new or relatively new to the Jamaican art world. New Roots was designed to identify and encourage new directions in the Jamaican art world, in keeping with the National Gallery’s mandate to support artistic development and to provide opportunities for young artists. It features are in conventional and new media – painting in various media and on various surfaces, digital photography, video and animation, and jewellery – and a variety of genres and styles, from the documentary to the fantastic. The exhibition reflects marked shifts in artistic and curatorial practice that respond to the current global and local cultural moment, especially with regards to the changing relationship between art work, artist and audience, and it presents new perspectives on art’s potential to foster social transformation in a time of crisis.

Admission to the NGJ will be free on October 18 and free guided tours of the New Roots exhibition will be offered before and after the panel discussion. Conference registration is not required to attend this panel discussion. For more on the Rex Nettleford Arts Conference, please click here.

[Images above: Olivia McGilchrist’s “Native Girl” Chapter 1: River Mumma (2013) video still and detail of Matthew McCarthy’s interactive “Put Dis on Page 2” installation.]

For more information, see http://nationalgalleryofjamaica.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/2013-rex-nettleford-arts-conference-panel-discussion-on-new-roots-friday-october-18/