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mdstamper.bsky.social
“Fatima” by Mrs. Lionel Lee (Nationality unknown) - Oil on canvas / c. 1886 - National Gallery of Jamaica (Kingston) #WomenInArt #MrsLionelLee #NationalGalleryofJamaica #PortraitofaWoman #arte #CaribbeanArt #BlueskyArt #ArtOfTheDay #CaribbeanArt #JamaicanArt #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists
Painted in late 19th-century Jamaica by Mrs. Lionel Lee, a woman artist known only through her married name, this portrait holds two kinds of partial record: the sitter is identified as “Fatima,” while the painter remains otherwise undocumented. A young woman is depicted from the chest up against a shallow, softly mottled beige background. Her broad shoulders sit almost parallel to the picture plane as her head turns to our left in three-quarter profile. She has honey-brown, sun-warmed skin, dark eyes, and an alert, steady expression that stays private rather than inviting our attention. Her hair is gathered back, with loose curls escaping as long the back of the neck. A muted red head tie wraps her head high at the crown, banded with a pale strip of cloth that catches the light. A small gold hoop earring glints at her left ear. She wears an almost collarless blue-green striped tunic, slightly open at the neck, where a crisp white undergarment shows through. The paint is most finely blended in her face, while the background remains undifferentiated, keeping attention on her features and posture. This portrait is often analyzed through what it withholds as much as what it reveals. Fatima does not meet us directly. Her averted gaze can signal period ideas of feminine modesty, but it also frames the image as observational and closer to an ethnographic “study” than a society portrait. The tunic’s stripes appear irregular, as if the garment were pieced together, and scholars connect such fabric to indigo-dyed Guinée cloth, linked to laboring lives and African diasporic trade networks. Her head tie is notable for its simplicity. Instead of sharply articulated folds pictured elsewhere in Caribbean art, it works as protection: holding hair, shielding from sun and dust, and helping preserve styles made during limited free time.
January 30, 2026 at 8:38 AM
mdstamper.bsky.social
“The Lawd Is My Shepard” by Osmond Watson (Jamaican) - Oil on canvas / 1969 - National Gallery of Jamaica (Kingston) #WomenInArt #OsmondWatson #NationalGalleryofJamaica #JamaicanArt #CaribbeanArt #PortraitPainting #BlackArt #art #artText #BlueskyArt #PortraitofaWoman #JamaicanArtist #CaribbeanArtist
Artist Osmond Watson titles the work in Jamaican Creole, turning “Psalm 23” from the Christian bible into everyday speech and locating faith in the lived world of a market. He monumentalizes a working Black Jamaican woman whose spiritual practice sits alongside economic self-reliance with produce for sale below, and holy scripture at the center. The woman sits looking slightly to our right with calm steadiness. She wears a pale blue headwrap that catches the light, a short-sleeved checkerboard blouse in warm reds and golds, and a blue skirt that folds in soft, heavy arcs across her bare knees. Her hands clasp an opened brown “HOLY BIBLE” book in her lap. She sits inside a market stall improvised from boards, nails, and sheet metal as angled wood planks hold up a tarp above her, a wooden barrel curves at left, and a patterned blue metal panel frames the right edge like a patched wall. At her feet, ripe round, orange-red and golden fruit spills forward, while a basket of red beans and a metal cup sits at the lower right. The space feels intimate and guarded as dark corners press in, yet the woman’s presence holds the scene, as if prayer and work share the same seat. Her skin is rendered in deep, glossy browns with cool green shadows, outlined with decisive dark contours that sharpen cheekbones, eyelids, and her nose. Two silver bangles circle one wrist and a ring glints on a finger. Her mouth is closed, neither smiling nor stern, more like someone looking up while reading. The geometry of the stall and the careful stillness of her pose make the Bible feel like the painting’s quiet compass. Painted in early post-independence 1969, it affirms Black Jamaican dignity being direct, unsentimental, and public. The cubism-touched geometry, saturated color, and heavy outlines lend a stained-glass intensity, elevating everyday items and daily labor into icon. As critic David Boxer put it, Watson wanted art that could be “understood and appreciated by all levels of society.”
January 19, 2026 at 8:17 PM
narrativecurator.bsky.social
The People’s Choice Award carries a JMD$250,000 cash prize. Please share this flyer with artists who meet the eligibility criteria. #OpenCall #JamaicanArt #Exhibitions #DueWest
January 28, 2025 at 9:38 PM
roniqueellis.bsky.social
Book covers for a series written by Shanna Miles

#illustration #procreate #drawing #art #roniqueellis #blackgirlmagic #blackgirlsrock #art #artwork #childrenillustrator #childrenbookillustration #Jamaica #jamaican #jamaicanartist #jamaicanart #illustrator #roniqueellis #youngblackartists
November 20, 2024 at 6:39 PM
keykeymonet.bsky.social
Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.
#blueskyart #art #painting #jamaicanart

Surrender by Bernard Hoyes (Revival Series)
March 22, 2025 at 12:11 AM
disafimihpodcast.bsky.social
disafimihisthttporypodcast.podbean.com/e/colors-tha... #StaffordSchliefer #JamaicanArt #CaribbeanArtists #JamaicanCulture #BlackArt #CaribbeanHistory #ArtAsStorytelling #DisAFiMiHistory #KingstonJamaica #CaribbeanCreatives
Colors That Move: Stafford Scheifler on Jamaican Life, Art, and Caribbean Heritage | Dis a Fi Mi History Podcast: Explore Caribbean Ancestry & Culture
In this episode of Dis A Fi Mi History Podcast, host Wendy Aris dives into Caribbean history and heritage through the lens of Jamaican self-taught artist Stafford Schliefer. They explore his decades-l...
disafimihisthttporypodcast.podbean.com
January 20, 2026 at 8:20 AM
roniqueellis.bsky.social
Happy New Year! I’m looking forward to 2025. 🥳

#illustration #procreate #drawing #art #roniqueellis #blackgirlmagic #blackgirlsrock #art #artwork #childrenillustrator #childrenbookillustration #Jamaica #jamaican #jamaicanartist #jamaicanart #illustrator #roniqueellis #youngblackartists
January 2, 2025 at 4:05 AM
deidrarose.bsky.social
Ackee and Breadfruit. Love our culture 🇯🇲 www.kavionart.com

#ackee #jamaica #breadfruit #jamaicannationaldish #art #stilllife #jamaicanart
February 8, 2025 at 11:30 PM