Image courtesy Nari Ward and Lehmann Maupin gallery

The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in partnership with NLS presents a public talk by guest artist Nari Ward on Wednesday, October 24 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Bert Rose Studio, School of Dance
Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts
1 Arthur Wint Drive, Kingston 6

Nari Ward (b. 1963, St. Andrew, Jamaica; lives and works in New York) is known for his sculptural installations composed of discarded material found and collected in his neighborhood. He has repurposed objects such as baby strollers, shopping carts, bottles, doors, television sets, cash registers and shoelaces, among other materials. Ward re-contextualizes these found objects in thoughtprovoking juxtapositions that create complex, metaphorical meanings to confront social and political issues surrounding race, poverty, and consumer culture. He intentionally leaves the meaning of his work open, allowing the viewer to provide his or her own interpretation. One of his most iconic works, Amazing Grace, was produced as part of his 1993 residency at The Studio Museum in Harlem in response to the AIDS crisis and drug epidemic of the early 1990s. For this large-scale installation, Ward gathered more than 365 discarded baby strollers—commonly used by the homeless population in Harlem to transport their belongings—which he bound with twisted fire hoses in an abandoned fire station in Harlem. Echoing through the space was an audio recording of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson’s Amazing Grace on repeat. The lyrics speak about redemption and change, generating optimism and a sense of hope. As with most of his work, this installation explored themes informed by the materials, community, and location in which he was working. The work has since been recreated at the New Museum Studio 231 space in 2013, and in several locations across Europe. With each change of context, the significance of the work changes as each community differently associates with these found objects.

Listen to Episode 29 of the NLS podcast IN now on iTunes featuring guests Alberta Whittle, Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Janice Cheddie, Paul Goodwin, Sumeshwar Sharma and Tiffany Boyle interviewed by Nicole Smythe-Johnson.

Episode 29 of IN invites a group of artists, historians and curators to recapture and analyse circumstances preceding and following the Black Arts Movement of Britain's 1980s creative landscape. How did the movement begin and how has the movement evolved to exist in this contemporary moment and what has effected its traces in the present day? The conversation approaches this theme from several angles. What is the relationship of the British Black Arts Movement to transnational relationships defined largely by the conditions of empire? Have spaces outside of the UK, such as the Caribbean, impacted or influenced black consciousness and output in the UK and if so how? What are the ripple effects of the Black Arts Movement in the UK and how have these legacies influenced the development of particular forms of consciousness/influenced the development of particular modes of art making/political movements/ in/amongst/within black and non-black communities in the UK and the Commonwealth?

NLS invites you to attend the open studio of current NLS studio artist María de los Angeles Rodriguez Jimenez, Monday, July 23 from 6 - 9 p.m.

María de los Angeles Rodriguez Jimenez' work is about the position of herself, a Cuban born body, in a permanent state of displacement and her relationship to space. According to the artist "I cannot go back to Cuba and be the way I was before, now I am someone else. My paintings try to express the state in which this happens. They are about the inability to belong in any defined structure.” De los Angeles Rodriguez Jimenez has developed an index of color relations to determine specific emotions and memories. The colors can be autonomous or have a new meaning altogether when encountering other colors and the forms they inhabit.

María de los Angeles Rodriguez Jimenez was born in Holguín, Cuba in 1992 and immigrated to New Orleans, USA in 2004. She received a Bachelor’s in Fine Art from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 2015 and participated in a residency at Skowhegan school of Painting and Sculpture on 2016. De los Angeles Rodriguez Jimenez is currently enrolled in the MFA programme in Painting at Yale University.

Life After Art School is a casual presentation and discussion of options and strategies for approaching an art career and art practice as a new artist led by Tide Rising Art Projects. While this event was created to help provide new art graduates go forward in the art field by providing information all interested persons are welcome. We will be discussing topics such as higher education, building a network, portfolio sharing tools, studio practice, representation etc. Please RSVP.

The 'Life After Art School' presentation began in 2016 as a one-off event as part of Oneika Russell's contribution to The Edna Manley College's Painting Department art talk series facilitated by Omari Ra (Head of Department)

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Dak'Art Report is a slideshow presentation of observations and highlights of the scope of the 13th Dakar Biennale which opened on May 8th 2018 by Biennale participant, Oneika Russell. It will provide a look at Contemporary African and African diaspora Art as well as a survey of the strategies used by the Bienniale body to activate the city.

Both events are free and open to the public.

NLS invites you to tune into our most recent episode of In, a conversation hosted by Nicole Smythe-Johnson with Jamila Aisha Brown, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Dr. Ariana A. Curtis, Maria Elena Ortiz, Thiago de Paula Souza and Luis Vasquez La Roche.

This episode of IN brings together artists and art practitioners of color living within and outside the Caribbean and Latin America to discuss, contribute, and decenter discussions around blackness. Who is black? And what does/might being black mean in different contexts? Certainly, there are examples of how the experience of blackness has inflected creative production in the Caribbean and Latin America, already expanding hegemonic discourses of blackness. What opportunities are there for solidarity across our cultural and national boundaries? These matters seem especially pressing in the aftermath of the assassination of Afro-Latina activist and politician Marielle Franco in Rio de Janeiro. What is to be done? Participants share their relationship to blackness, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin identities, defining these terms, and thinking through what the implications of these identities are for life and work.

Now on iTunes and YouTube

Above image courtesy María Magdalena Campos-Pons

NLS invites you to tune into our most recent episode of In, a conversation hosted by Nicole Smythe-Johnson with artist collective Cooking Sections, Glasgow-based artist and curator James Hutchinson, and Berlin-based artist Susanne Winterling in the second of two conversations on creative practices focused on decolonisation and nature. This podcast episode is presented in partnership with the British Council with the support of our parent company Creative Sounds Limited.

Now on iTunes.

Join us for episode 26 of IN with Ursula Biemann (artist & curator, Zurich, Switzerland), TJ Demos (director, Center for Creative Ecologies, UC Santa Cruz, U.S.A.), Pablo Guardiola (artist & curator, Beta Local, San Juan, Puerto Rico), Deborah Jack (artist, St. Maarten/U.S.A.), and Marina Reyes Franco (writer & curator, San Juan, Puerto Rico) about new creative practices dealing with decolonisation and nature.

Part 1 on iTunes
Part 2 on iTunes
Part 3 on iTunes

2017 marked a significant tipping point in anthropogenic climate events, the projection of which gained consensus in the scientific community in the late 1980s. Disaster steadily unfolds not just in the seemingly distant arctic but finally greets us here in the Americas. Looking at unprecedented events in the Caribbean alone, during the summer of 2017 two category 5 Hurricanes hit the region in the space of one week destroying fiscally indebted, historically exploited post-colonial nations such as Dominica, Guadeloupe, eradicating the country Barbuda, and bringing current colonies to their knees such as St. Martin (owned by France) and Puerto Rico (owned by the United States). What viable options are there for indivisuals living in the Caribbean have?

As the ideological and practical framework of Rights of Nature, a legislative and philosophical commitment which took shape in Bolivia in 2010, slowly gains global attention and adoption through activists, creative practitioners, and academics, we bring together a conversation on the viability and applicability of Rights of Nature to spaces like the Caribbean—which has historically been a locale of imperial rebellion in war and culture. How is our current environmental crisis an economic, political, cultural and ecological one? The conversation will focus on methodologies in individual practices that weave through and connect anthropogenic climate events, colonial/post-colonial economics, environmental activism, gender studies and culture.

Blue Curry will be in residency at NLS this month. During his residency Blue will be considering reggae music as regional cliché. One of the Caribbean’s most beloved cultural exports, born out of struggle and inequality, layered with politics and religion, reggae is now employed as a representative music of leisure globally. The jaunty reggae beat activates fantasies of sipping poolside cocktails on a carefree island getaway; it entices visitors to the region while reinforcing stereotypes and cultural singularity. Blue will be collaborating with the audio engineers at Creative Sounds recording studio during his three week residency to produce a new work reflecting his investigation into the ways that economic geography influence cultural production and consumption. Taking an experimental approach Blue will bring together his current sculptural concerns with this new audio component for the NLS space.

More information here.

NLS invites you to tune into our most recent episode of In, a conversation with artist Phillip Thomas about his work and opinions on the broader contexts of art and society. In is a series of live conversations with practitioners in the visual arts from Jamaica and across the globe. The podcast is presented with the generous support of our parent company Creative Sounds Limited. Listen on iTunes here.

More information on IN here.

Tune into the the current episode of IN by subsribing on iTunes to NLS In or on the NLS Kingston Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJhI7gIgz6Q.. We chat with Scotland-based artist Joanna Helfer, currently in residence at Alice Yard, Port of Spain, Trinidad

More information here.

Image courtesy Jillian Steinhauer

NLS is pleased to invite you to Strange, how glad I am to mourn, a talk and exhibition of posters by the Guerilla Girls presented by Rosanna McLaughlin. This event is presented as part of the Trans Atlantic Artists' Residency Exchange (TAARE) at NLS, sponsored by the British Council.

Opens: Saturday, April 22, 7 p.m.
Free and open to the public, complimentary refreshments

More information

The TAARE programme is made possible in part by support from the British Council.

NLS welcomes writer-in-residence Rosanna McLaughlin as our inaugural TAARE Resident. McLaughlin is an art writer whose interests lie in reportage, feminist practices, and the cultural and economic narratives that dictate the type of art that gains prominence. McLaughlin is currently researching into the death of Cuban-born artist Ana Mendieta and the protest movement that followed her death.

Listen to the episode of our podcast IN with Rosanna McLaughlin.

The TAARE programme is made possible in part by support from the British Council.

Tune in to our most recent episode of IN talking with art residencies across the globe. Guests are Bluecoat (Liverpool, England), Residency Unlmited (Brooklyn, New York), Fresh Milk Art Platform (Barbados). Listen at the NLS YouTube channel.

For more information about IN click here.

NLS presents the debut solo exhibition of new work by Leasho Johnson. The opening reception takes place on Saturday, February 4 at alternative location 10A West Kings House Road.

In his newest paintings and sculptures Johnson inserts his dancehall-influenced female avatars into colonial depictions of plantation life in Jamaica culled from Isaac Mendes Belisario’s 18th century paintings. Johnson uses Belisario’s depictions to create a counterpoint to the music of Vybz Kartel as a means to question power heirarchies, legitimacy, and subjugation within Jamaican culture. In this body of work Johnson deftly moves between techniques he has employed for the last seven years ranging from Japanese anime, street art, graphic design, ceramic sculpture, and 18th century painting creating humour as a means to cutting commentary about social mores.

Free and open to the public.

For more information click here.

Join us at the Edna Manley College on Wednesday for a public lecture by Trinidadian artist Christopher Cozier. Cozier’s lecture will discuss the potential free/play spaces that Caribbean artists are constantly imagining, constructing, and navigating, including in his own creative practice and at Alice Yard. He will also discuss how the established idea of the Caribbean persists—as a viable fiction, as a site of exchange, an owned product or territory traded between various beneficiaries, internal and external. This event is free and open to the public.

Presented by the National Gallery of Jamaica in partnership with the Edna Manley College and NLS.

"#DominicanWomenGoogleSearch". Image Courtesy Joiri Minaya

Join us online for the next episode of IN airing on Sunday December 11, on the NLS Youtube Channel bringing together six art practitioners whose work addresses black female subjectivity. NLS is pleased to present a conversation between Autumn Knight, Jessica Bell Brown, Joiri Minaya, Julia Phillips, Lauren Kelley and Oneika Russell. Send in your questions during the live episode to us on Twitter at @NLSKingston or on our YouTube channel.

Join us at NLS for the CANYON Shop from December 8 to 11 from 10 a.m, to 10 p.m . CANYON is an eclectic lifestyle brand for those who love life, colour and the magical things of the world. Vintage clothing, fun, active wear and jewelry will be on sale.

New Local Space partners with The British Council for the Trans Atlantic Artists' Residency Exchange (TAARE) program, which focuses on exchanges between the United Kingdom (UK), Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The residency is open to visual artists, art critics and curators in the UK and the Caribbean. The program is targeted at providing research and practice-based residencies while developing trans-Atlantic connections. The submission deadline for applications is December 2, 2016.

For full details and information on how to apply click here.

Key partners for the project are Alice Yard, Delfina Foundation, Gasworks, Autograph ABP, and Hospitalfield Arts.

Join us for the open studio of our current studio artist Demi Walker on Saturday, November 12, from 2 PM - 5 PM.

Currently, Walker is working on a project titled City Bikkle at NLS. She is a multi-media artist who produces photographs of ‘natural’ surroundings and unsuspecting subjects, and creates biomorphic pieces using recycled/recyclable materials along with organic forms. Her present work involves imagery and structures that are symbolic of gastronomical rifts and habits within the cityscape of Kingston.

Walker is enrolled in her final year at the University of the West Indies (UWI) – in affiliation with the Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) – where she majors in the Visual Arts, and minors in Film Studies.

Free and open to the public.

NLS welcomes the 2016 Summer Residents: David Gumbs, Kelley-Ann Lindo and Susanne Winterling, three brilliant artists from Martinique, Jamaica and Germany with diverse art practices.

Over the nine-week residency, Gumbs, Lindo and Winterling will bring their unique backgrounds in 3-D mapping, video, painting and marine bioluminescence together to create a responsive mental and social landscape that investigates the vulnerability of water-associated ecologies and their link to our individual and cultural experiences and memories.

Aesthetically the artists approach the project with diverse materials, combining amorphous sculptural cues, a lab aesthetic, and a focus on heightening sensibilities and consciousness within audience participation. The artists draw inspiration from Jamaica's marine ecology-- particularly bioluminescent algae and the conch shell, as well as the context of that ecology within human experience of water-- natural disasters, history, practices and politics.

Donate to the Summer Residency Kickstarter fundraising campaign here.

NLS introduces FORUM, an exhibition of recent work by Jamaican-born, Brooklyn-based artist Simon Benjamin. This body of work is based on Benjamin's visit to the mystery-enshrouded, abandoned hotel The Forum in Port Henderson, just outside of Kingston. The work consists of a series of Photographs and site-specific installation at NLS.

The Forum opened its doors in 1973 and closed in 1978, coinciding with a tumultuous period of Jamaica’s history. For the artist's entire life the Hotel has been defunct and largely left to deteriorate with starts of re-usage in various capacities. For the first time on a visit back to Jamaica, Benjamin trespassed into the property to investigate and learn more about this building, the product of which is this exhibition.

Opening reception: Saturday, March 12, 2016 from 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Artist Talk: Sunday, March 13, 2016 from 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., featuring invited panelist Judith Bruce, and moderated by LinYee Yuan.

These events are free and open to the public.

Berlin- and Oslo-based artist, Susanne Winterling is interviewed by guest host Nicole Smythe-Johnson in the upcoming episode of NLS' podcast IN. They will discuss Winterling's most recent exhibitions including 'Nature after nature' at the historical Fridericianum, Kassel, 'Drift' at the Gallerie Parrotta Contemporary Art, in Stuttgart, and 'The Lulennial: A Slight Gesturay', in Mexico City. Working across a variety of media, including film and photography, Winterling is mostly known for installations that critically intervene in their surroundings through directing attention to the sensual and perceptual qualities of spaces, objects and the representation of realities. She is also one of the founders of the art collective Akademie Isotrop, and is a professor of contemporary art.

The podcast episode airs Sunday, January 31 at 3 p.m. on the NLS Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCopVuxfYsATdTGLvH5Wa8VQ