Author: Camara Dia Holloway

I am the Project Manager for the Romare Bearden Digital Catalogue Raisonné at the Wildenstein Plattner Institute. I earned my PhD at Yale University in the History of Art Department and specialize in twentieth century American art with a particular focus on the history of photography, race and representation, and transatlantic modernist networks. I also serve as a Founding Co-Director of the Association for Critical Race Art History (ACRAH).

“Reflection on Parallels and Continuity at the National Gallery of Jamaica” by Monique Barnett-Davidson

nationalgalleryofjamaica's avatarNational Gallery of Jamaica

Here is another in the series of reviews that were produced as part of the NGJ’s recent art writing workshop for its curatorial staff. This comparison between the self-portraits of Henry Daley from our permanent collection and Camille Chedda’s self-portraits in New Roots was written by Monique Barnett-Davidson. Monique is a Painting graduate of the Edna Manley College and is one of our two Curatorial Assistants.

As an art enthusiast, I always enjoy tracking how artists over time have extended long-referenced concepts and subject matters to discuss and explore aspects of culture and social life. As I explored the recently installed contemporary exhibition, New Roots: 10 Emerging Artists, at the NGJ, I was excited to identify parallels between that and works from the NGJ’s permanent display of older modern pieces.

Take self-portraiture for example. In Jamaican art, approaches to self-portraiture have been largely conventional. There are, however, some Jamaican…

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Negr@ y Orugullos@, Black and Proud

Progressive Pupil's avatarThe Progress

Happy Autumn! On our blog this month we highlight AfroLatino culture and history in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month. There are vibrant and distinct Black communities throughout Mexico, Central and South America as well as the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. The term AfroLatino refers to people with Latin American heritage who also identify as descendants of the millions of Africans who were forced to work as slaves on sugar, tobacco and rice plantations in the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries. AfroLatinidad is the tradition of struggle, rebellion and overcoming obstacles, which this community continues today.

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WEB: New Resource – “Slave Revolt in Jamaica, 1760-1761: A Cartographic Narrative”

Jessica Marie Johnson's avatar#ADPhD

Slave Revolt in Jamaica, 1760-1761

Vincent Brown (Harvard University) unveils a new resource for studying slavery and slave revolt in Jamaica:

via Slave Revolt in Jamaica, 1760-1761:

This animated thematic map narrates the spatial history of the greatest slave insurrection in the eighteenth century British Empire.  To teachers and researchers, the presentation offers a carefully curated archive of key documentary evidence.  To all viewers, the map suggests an argument about the strategies of the rebels and the tactics of counterinsurgency, about the importance of the landscape to the course of the uprising, and about the difficulty of representing such events cartographically with available sources.  Although this cartographic narration cannot be taken as an exhaustive database—for instance, it does not examine major themes such as belonging and affiliation among the insurgents or the larger imperial context and interconnected Atlantic world— the map offers an illuminating interpretation of the military campaign’s spatial dynamics….

….Mapping the great…

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Michael Parchment (1957-2013)

nationalgalleryofjamaica's avatarNational Gallery of Jamaica

The National Gallery of Jamaica deeply regrets the passing of the painter, sculptor and poet Michael Parchment on Tuesday, August 20, 2013.

Michael Parchment was born on August 13, 1957 to a Revival family and he lived in Seaview Gardens in Kingston for most of his adult life. Called by visions, he started painting in 1978 and had his first exhibition in 1983. He was a regular participant in the Festival Fine Arts Exhibition (later the National Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition), where he won many accolades, including Gold medals in 2006 and 2007. He regularly exhibited at Harmony Hall, the Mutual Gallery and the National Gallery of Jamaica in Jamaica, where he won the Tribute to Bob Marley Competition in 2005 with his relief panting No Woman Nuh Cry (2005). He was featured in the National Gallery’s Intuitives III exhibition in 2006. Parchment also exhibited internationally in the…

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Conversations in Black Freedom Studies: The Roots of Harlem Radicalism At The Schomburg

LEC: Curating Pacific Spaces @ Int’l Studio & Curatorial Program

URL for additional information: http://www.iscp-nyc.org/events/current/curating-pacific-spaces.html

On August 13th, the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) presents the panel Curating Pacific Spaces: Recent Developments in Contemporary Art from the South Pacific. New Zealand is home to one of the largest populations of Pacific people in the world, however Indigenous Pacific artists and curators have, until recently, rarely been featured in the art history of this nation. Today a new generation of indigenous artists endeavor to have their contribution to the contemporary art scene of the South Pacific fully recognized.

Curators of contemporary Maori and Pacific Islander art, Reuben Friend and Shelley Jahnke, will present their findings on recent developments in contemporary Pacific Art, from trends in the private gallery scene to the latest generation of emerging millennial artists. Reuben Friend’s findings highlight the types of contemporary Pacific Art currently being exhibited in public galleries in New Zealand and how these works translate to an international audience. Shelley Jahnke’s research examines the dynamics of selling and positioning contemporary Māori and Pacific Art within New Zealand and international markets.

Reuben Friend is an artist and curator of Māori and Pākehā lineage. From 2009-2013, he worked as the Curator of Māori and Pacific Arts at City Gallery and recently relocated to Brisbane where he works as the Exhibition Manager at Logan Art Gallery while developing contemporary Pacific art projects on a freelance basis.

Shelley Jahnke is a Māori curator with experience working within public and commercial galleries in New Zealand. Prior to taking up the role of curator, at Te Manawa Art Gallery, Palmerston North, she worked exclusively for an Asian-based private international art collector and contributed to the curation and project management of the international touring show Roundabout. This ambitious three year project debuted at the City Gallery, Wellington in late 2010 and later the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2012.

The presentation will be facilitated by ISCP artist-in-residence Shigeyuki Kihara.
Contact Email: ebees@iscp-nyc.org

WEB: Visual Culture of the American Civil War

Jessica Marie Johnson's avatar#ADPhD

New website:

The historical record of the American Civil War includes a vast amount of visual material—photographs, illustrated news periodicals, comic publications, individually-published prints, almanacs, political cartoons, illustrated envelopes, trade cards, greeting cards, sheet music covers, money, and more. The era’s visual media heralded an unprecedented change in the production and availability of pictorial media in everyday life and an innovation in the documentation of warfare. In the last decade, a remarkable amount of these materials, previously confined to libraries, historical societies, and museums, has become available on the Web, and in the last generation drawn the attention of humanities scholars.

In July 2012 the American Social History Project held a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute on The Visual Culture of the Civil War. For two weeks, thirty college and university teachers from across the United States explored the array of visual media that recorded and disseminated information…

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JOB: Admin, African-American Fine Art @ Swann Galleries

Administrative Assistant, African-American Fine Art Department

Description:

Swann Auction Galleries, an art and rare book auction house, is seeking an administrative assistant for its African-American Fine Art department. Since its creation in 2006, this department is dedicated to the promotion and sale of fine art by important African-American artists from the 19th century to the contemporary.

This is a full-time position, working closely with the director in all department functions, including consignments, catalogue production and auction sales. Administrative assistant duties include but are not limited to answering inquiries, working with consignors and buyers, inventory management, exhibition planning, art handling and research. Assistants also support staff on Swann auction sale days.

Qualifications and Requirements:
• A minimum of an undergraduate degree in art history, fine arts, arts administration/education, or a related field.
• Excellent organizational, communication, visual and writing skills.
• Knowledge of art history and contemporary art.
• Knowledge of PC and Microsoft platforms. Familiarity with digital photography and Photoshop preferred.

Please submit a one page cover letter and a current resumé to Nigel Freeman, Director, African-American Fine Art, via email –  nfreeman@swanngalleries.com