Ivorhod Walters’ Before They Came will be part of the second staging of Due West, the National Gallery West’s annual exhibition that runs till April 11th. Walters, a St. James resident, describes the work as a Plaster of Paris reductive sculpture inspired by Ivan van Sertima’s They Came Before Columbus. Van Sertima’s famous book argues that Africans were in the Caribbean long before Columbus. Walters’ piece depicts a bronze African stone head with the African symbols God and wisdom inscribed on both sides of the ears. He is one of 14 in the submission-based exhibition for emerging and professional artists from Western Jamaica to gain experience and a platform to launch or develop their careers.
The National Gallery of Jamaica’s 50th Anniversary exhibition, Continuity, runs from June 30 to September 30th, 2024. Continuity revisits ten NGJ’s iconic exhibitions, including the Biennials of 2014, 2017 and 2022 and Jamaica Jamaica, (2020).
