Jamaica

After graduating from Ruseas High School in Hanover, Stanford Watson came to study at the Jamaica School of Art in 1979. He enjoyed his exposure to different art forms and the tuition he gained from teachers like Arthur Coppege, Hedy Buzan, Eric Cadien and Cecil Cooper. He chose to specialise in painting and soon developed an expressive style that mirrored the restless mood of the early eighties. His friendships with fellow students such as African/Omari Ra, Douglas Wallace/Kalfa��öni Ra and Valentine Fairclough among others stimulated his interest in the political, economic and social concerns that fed his work. After graduating he quickly established himself as a serious painter by exhibiting widely in Jamaica and international exhibitions. His work was sought after by many private collectors as well as the National Gallery of Jamaica who responded positively to his maturing wit and biting social commentary . In addition to his painting, Watson has also proved himself to be a stalwart teacher, he now working for the Multicare Foundation’s outreach programme, travelling and teaching extensively in the country parts of Jamaica. More recently he has pursued these social concerns and study in the USA.

Khepera Oluyia's work is a powerful mix of the collective and the personal. Through her painting she makes ambitious statements about the ideological systems that seduce, confine and manipulate us in the black diaspora. She challenges these belief systems and provides new models for our consideration and commitment.Jamaica's understanding of political blackness and skin colour are two of her most serious concerns. These are themes she has been exploring since her art school years, combining striking racial portraits with enigmatic titles. Back then, to reinforce her ideas about black strength and dominance, she started using mastic, a black tar substance more usually used for road and

As a youth, Rex Dixon first attended art college in Stourbridge, he was part of that initial wave of working-class students who recognized their difference when confronted with middle-class dominated art institutions. His preference for abstraction as expounded by the American action painters can be seen as an early decision in favour of Internationaliam, rather than British parochialism, and the confinement that that represented. A later decision to live in Ireland and Jamaica teaching, and now Trinidad, underscored his ability to identify with other cultures outside of his own, with little remorse.