Arts Jamaica Archive

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Arts Jamaica Archive ARTS JAMAICA ARCHIVE — dedicated to the documentation of 20th and 21st century Jamaican visual arts. Archivist: Rianna Jade Parker.

FRIDAY 2ND to SUNDAY 4TH OCTThe intention for this Reading Room is to foreground the work of independent librarians, arc...
02/10/2026

FRIDAY 2ND to SUNDAY 4TH OCT

The intention for this Reading Room is to foreground the work of independent librarians, archivists, and artist-led community initiatives such as Legacy Library (Legacy Library), Black Lantern Books (Black Lantern Books), Black Art Commons (blackartcommons) and the newly established Arts Jamaica Archive.

Our transnational collaboration is evidence of how autonomous infrastructures of knowledge can operate beyond western institutions and geographies that have historically organised visibility, legitimacy, and circulation.

I’m grateful and humbled by the openness my new comrades and co-conspirators at Legacy Library!

Join us this weekend for close reading, downtime and reflection. 💫💫💫

12/04/2026

“Kim Robinson is a Jamaican poet, editor, and co-author of the first book dedicated to Jamaican visual art: ‘Jamaican Art: An Overview’.

Since 2004 Kim has been the editor-in-chief of Jamaica Journal, the principal publication of the Institute of Jamaica documenting the historical, scientific, literary and artistic development in the nation. She is also editor-in-chief of the Caribbean Quarterly.

In her home in March 2025, Weyland and I spent the day with Kim recanting the time between, then and now. Here, she reads the Introduction of her book. Fulljoy!”

–– RJP ()

Credits:
* Archivist and Researcher: Rianna Jade Parker
* Audio Producer: Weyland McKenzie-Witter
* Narrator: Kim Robinson
* Cover Illustration: Kamala Davis
* Digital Media: Adwoa Owusu-Barnieh
* Photography: Weyland McKenzie-Witter



© 2026 Arts Jamaica Archive. All rights reserved.

12/04/2026

“Very rare!

Published in 1990 by Mike Henry (Kingston Publishers Ltd) ‘Jamaican Art: An Overview – with a Focus on Fifty Artists’ is the first book dedicated to Jamaican visual art with a foreword by Dr David Boxer.

Mallica ‘Kapo’ Reynold’s Cashew Time (c.1990) is the cover art.

Although this edition of the book is out of print, the 2011 revised edition is available from .”

–– RJP ()

Credits:
* Archivist and Researcher: Rianna Jade Parker
* Audio Producer: Weyland McKenzie-Witter
* Digital Media: Adwoa Owusu-Barnieh
* Website Design: Kadish Morris

© 2026 Arts Jamaica Archive. All rights reserved.

12/04/2026

“Very rare!

All 10 issues of Arts Jamaica Magazine have been digitally scanned (by the Digital Library of the Caribbean) and are linked on arts-jamaica.org.

I have named the inaugural editorial team, although this team shifted and changed over the five years of production.

Margaret Reckord Bernal gave me my first physical copy, and since, I have been able to reclaim a complete set of the physical magazines for the Arts Jamaica Archive. 💪🏿”

— RJP ()

Credits:
* Archivist and Researcher: Rianna Jade Parker ()
* Narration: Margaret Reckord Bernal
* Audio Producer: Weyland McKenzie-Witter (.mckenzie.witter)
* Cover Illustration: Kamala Davis ()
* Digital Media: Adwoa Owusu-Barnieh ()
* Website Designer: Kadish Morris ()
* Graphic Artist (Typography): Mbala

© 2026 Arts Jamaica Archive. All rights reserved.

12/04/2026

“Fieldwork is not simply data collection, it is a multi-pronged process of knowledge transfer.

It has taken many years of sifting and sorting through public and private depositories of heritage items to make them accessible to wider audiences through my editorial, audio-visual and curatorial work.

Communication in this seemingly post-literate era seems to be about immediate visual recognition, authenticity and emotional resonance with what and who we see. I remain committed to deep reading.

In the Caribbean exists tangible and intangible material cultures that are at imminent risk of deterioration and destruction; by humans and nature. Archiving is not a one-man or one-time event.

We need a concerted effort of conservation, record-keeping, and the protection of cultural property, both movable (held by museums or libraries) and immovable (architecture, cultural heritage sites). How can we future-proof the Caribbean?”

— RJP ()

“History is no casual thing that one picks up while passing through school. It becomes a part of one’s total orientation towards the world.” (Amos Wilson, 1993)

Credits:
* Archivist and Researcher: Rianna Jade Parker ()
* Narration: Margaret Reckord Bernal
* Audio Producer: Weyland McKenzie-Witter (.mckenzie.witter)
* Cover Illustration: Kamala Davis ()
* Digital Media: Adwoa Owusu-Barnieh ()
* Website Designer: Kadish Morris ()
* Graphic Artist (Typography): Mbala

Sources: Rianna Jade Parker, CPTC, Arts Jamaica Archive, Weyland McKenzie-Witter, Dr David Boxer Archive and various Private Collections.

© 2026 Arts Jamaica Archive. All rights reserved.

Frequently Asked QuestionsCredits:* Archivist and Researcher: Rianna Jade Parker ()* Audio Producer: Weyland McKenzie-Wi...
12/04/2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Credits:
* Archivist and Researcher: Rianna Jade Parker ()
* Audio Producer: Weyland McKenzie-Witter (.mckenzie.witter)
* Digital Media: Adwoa Owusu-Barnieh ()
* Website Designer: Kadish Morris ()
* Graphic Artist (Typography): Mbala
*

Artwork: Courtesy of Margaret Reckord Bernal Collection

© 2026 Arts Jamaica Archive. All rights reserved.

Statement of Intent:The primary aim of this visual art archive is to corroborate and complicate major art history subjec...
12/04/2026

Statement of Intent:
The primary aim of this visual art archive is to corroborate and complicate major art history subjects, heritage ephemera and first-hand oral accounts contextualising modernist and contemporary art in Jamaica — with consideration and in relation to the regional Caribbean.

Credits:
* Archivist and Researcher: Rianna Jade Parker ()
* Audio Producer: Weyland McKenzie-Witter (.mckenzie.witter)
* Digital Media: Adwoa Owusu-Barnieh ()
* Website Designer: Kadish Morris ()
* Graphic Artist (Typography): Mbala

Artwork: Courtesy of Margaret Reckord Bernal Collection

© 2026 Arts Jamaica Archive. All rights reserved.

[Under a new entity, the Arts Jamaica Archive (Est. 2026) will further and expand upon the work initiated by the now dor...
12/04/2026

[Under a new entity, the Arts Jamaica Archive (Est. 2026) will further and expand upon the work initiated by the now dormant publishing company, Arts Jamaica (Est. 1982), founded by Margaret Reckord Bernal.

Of my own fruition and will, I have spent years contributing to archives across both sides of the Atlantic; in ways that are iterative and unstable, but alive. Unbeknownst to too many, exists a century and more of art-making in Jamaica — with the same depth and breadth as our regional cousins in Cuba and Haiti.

An archival practice is often explained through intention, identity and authorship. In addition to this we work through: conditions, repetition and structure. This art-historical research has been enacted rather than originated.

I am self-initiated and largely self-funded. Gratefully, along the way, Reece, Lynette, Lisa, Herman and Diane made sure that I didn’t fall flat on my face. I pay this forward every day.]

— RJP ()

Credits:
* Archivist and Researcher: Rianna Jade Parker ()
* Audio Producer: Weyland McKenzie-Witter (.mckenzie.witter)
* Digital Media: Adwoa Owusu-Barnieh ()
* Website Designer: Kadish Morris ()
* Graphic Artist (Typography): Mbala

© 2026 Arts Jamaica Archive. All rights reserved.

01/04/2026

ARTS JAMAICA ARCHIVE (Est. 2026)

[The Anglophone Caribbean has been largely subtracted from the better-known narratives of the visual arts that dominate the Atlantic world, and so with this many have never made it onto the art-historical record.

There is nothing new under the sun. I’m proud to be continuing and building upon what has survived the past 100+ years of art-making in Jamaica. I have a purpose and an obligation to see a very specific thing through – at home and abroad – all without martyring myself.

Arts Jamaica Archive is just one te****le of my practice; that is not claiming to be exhaustive or exclusive. I encourage anyone with enough grit and stamina to take up their own initiatives to add to the canon. You can begin with the ‘Sources’ page on our website.

This extensive and intensive documentation should have been undertaken decades ago, by people with immediate proximity and far more resources. I missed some key practitioners due to their age and health and I had brief encounters with others before they passed away. I have relied heavily on the handful of Titans left, to whom I remain ever grateful.]

–— RJP ()

“Just while common people like you and me, will be builders for eternity. Each is given a bag of tools, a shapeless mass, and a book of rules.” (The Heptones, 1976)

Credits:
Archivist and Researcher: Rianna Jade Parker ()
Audio Producer: Weyland McKenzie-Witter (.mckenzie.witter)
Digital Media: Adwoa Owusu-Barnieh ()
Website Designer: Kadish Morris ()
Graphic Designer (Typography): Mbala

© 2026 Arts Jamaica Archive. All rights reserved.

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