Roy Reid was born in Portland, Jamaica in 1937. The son of farmers, he left school aged 11 unable to read. He moved to Kingston to start a career in art, and was closely associated with Jamaica’s Intuitives because of his self-taught background. He eventually learned to read at the age of 34 by studying the bible. Reid died in 2009, aged 71, after complications with prostate cancer, diabetes and an enlarged heart.