Jamaica, One Love/No Love

Jamaican Iguana, from the Indigenous Fauna series, watercolor on paper 2014

I have learnt the warmth of the sun
A million adventures not yet begun

Heartbreak and poetry
…deep blues …

Now i know this is lonely country
It leads me only back to the sea

… Once there was beauty here for me
Once there was magic here for me ….

-words from Dido’s, “Northern Skies”, from the Safe Trip Home album-

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I’m working on a series of artwork inspired by Jamaica, its history, its present. That includes reading the early texts and drawings about the island. My readings and research take me from the cave drawings of the Tainos to the writings of the Spanish, based on Columbus’ arrival in the “New World,” on up to the present. So many things, are done in the name of the church, the holy trinity, god and nation. 

Video – Jamaica, a terrible place to be gay: