Tanya Batson-Savage writes about the upcoming exhibition, “Xaymaca: Nature and the Landscape in Jamaican Art,” which will soon open at the National Gallery of Jamaica’s Montego Bay branch: National Gallery West. Curated by curate by Dr. Veerle Poupeye (Executive Director of the National Gallery) and O’Neil Lawrence (Senior Curator) the exhibition will be on view from Friday, May 8, at 7:00pm through August 8, 2015. The National Gallery of Jamaica West is located at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre in Sam Sharpe Square, Montego Bay, Jamaica. Batson-Savage explains:

An exhibition on the Jamaican landscape certainly comes at an important moment in the country’s history, when many fear that we are fast become the land of not so much wood and polluted waters. The battle between environmentalists and the government over issues such as the creation of a hub at protected national reserve Goat Island and the Roaring River Water Shed, both of which are slated for sale to Chinese interests, therefore makes an interesting backdrop to the exhibition.

According to a release from the NGJ, “[T]he Xaymaca exhibition celebrates the spectacular natural beauty of Jamaica, seen through the eyes of Jamaican and visiting artists from the colonial period to the present, but also acknowledges how nature and the land carry the baggage of history and contemporary politics.”

Xaymaca features four sections: the plantation era art, early 20th century photography, the nationalist school, and the post-independence generation. The plantation era art will feature paintings and prints by George Robertson, J.B. Kidd, James Hakewill and John Eaves while the 20th century photography section will feature the works of A. Duperly and Sons, Herbert Hood-Daniel and Robin Farquharson. Works by Edna Manley, Albert Huie and Ralph Campbell will be featured in the nationalist school while the works of Barrington Watson, Eugene Hyde, Colin Garland, Michael Lester, Mallica ‘Kapo’ Reynolds, Everald Brown, Hope Brooks and Laura Facey.

[Image above: Colin Garland’s In the Beautiful Caribbean in the Xaymaca exhibition NGJ West.]

Read full article by Tanya Batson-Savage at http://www.susumba.com/art-design/news/national-gallery-jamaica-west-presents-xaymaca