About this event
The National Gallery of Jamaica’s Last Sundays programme for March 26, 2017, will feature the Jamaica Biennial 2017 and a special musical performance by BLACKasCOLE.
Fronted by songstress Cecile Black, BLACKasCOLE’s performance style is a fusion of different genres: Alternative, Blues, Gospel, R&B, Reggae/Dub-Rock which they have integrated into a base component of Reggae and Dub; the result is a new genre that the band calls Jam-on-Dub. The band emerged from the UWI Pop society at the Mona campus and has been in existence for three years now. Its goal is to “to ignite your hearts with conscious uplifting messages of truth and love.” BLACKasCOLE performs mostly original material and cover versions are usually interpretations of songs with personal significance. The band has graced a number of stages performing several times at the Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival and venues such as Red Bones Blues Cafe’; Jamnesia; and Plug ‘n’ Play at the Jonkanoo Lounge of the Wyndham Hotel, to name a few. Their last performance at the National Gallery, three years ago, was extremely well received by our audience and we are particularly pleased to welcome back BLACKasCOLE, for what is guaranteed to be a phenomenal Last Sundays appearance.
Visitors will be able to view the critically acclaimed Jamaica Biennial 2017 which opened in late February 2017 at three locations: the National Gallery of Jamaica on the Kingston waterfront, Devon House in New Kingston and National Gallery West in Sam Sharpe Square, Montego Bay. Featuring a diverse mix of locally and overseas based artists, some of them well known and others emerging or new, the 2017 edition of the Jamaica Biennial reflects the vitality of the Jamaican art scene and the complex global dynamics that shape the art of the Caribbean region today. As was first done in 2014, the Jamaica Biennial features six specially invited international artists, from the Caribbean and its Diaspora—Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, Raquel Paiewonsky, Marcel Pinas, Nadia Huggins at the National Gallery of Jamaica; Andrea Chung at Devon House; and David Gumbs at National Gallery West—and the exhibition also includes two special tributes to noted Jamaican artists—Alexander Cooper and Peter Dean Rickards, both of which can be viewed at the National Gallery of Jamaica. The exhibition features work in conventional media and styles as well as more experimental work in digital and other new media, including several large-scale installations. The largest and arguably the most ambitious such exhibition staged to date by the National Gallery, the Jamaica Biennial runs at all three locations until May 28, 2017.
The National Gallery of Jamaica’s doors will be open from 11 am to 4 pm on Sunday, March 26, 2017 and the programme will start at 1:30 pm. As is customary for Last Sundays, admission will be free at the National Gallery of Jamaica’s downtown Kingston location and there will also be free tours of the Jamaica Biennial 2017. The Devon House location will also be exceptionally from 11 am to 4 pm and National Gallery West will be open from 9 am to 5 pm. Regular admission rates will apply at both National Gallery West and at Devon House.