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Fieldtrip to the National Gallery of Jamaica - Wiki Group 8
The assignment given was that on your own time, visit the Kingston Biennial Pressure! at the National Gallery of Jamaica on 12 Ocean Blvd, Block C (entrance is on Orange Street). Entry is free if you present your student I.D.

Choose any three works on display at the Gallery that you find interesting. Describe and analyse them according to any two of the various art historical methodologies discussed in Anne D'Alleva's texts.

'Introduction'
On Saturday October 1st, 2022, our group went to visit the National Gallery of Jamaica to view the Kingston Biennial 2022 exhibition that was titled ‘Pressure.’ On entering the gallery there were a couple of welcoming billboards with the definitions of the term ‘Pressure.’ ‘Pressure’ was defined as “A key word in the lexicon of the Jamaican imaginative landscape of social suffering and creative practice.” by the exhibitionists on one of the billboards at the National Gallery of Jamaica. This definition of pressure opened my mind to observe the artworks on display with intellectual alert and enthusiasm. The first work of art that grasped keen perception to us, was a mixed-media collage painting by Omari Ra titled ‘Brushwacked from the 1962 Lone Ranger Comic Book, Issue #s 2016-2025, 2019-2021.’ It was a colorful and monumental work of art that depicts racism and oppression. Secondly, A digital painting titled ‘Wave Files’ by artist Ricardo Edwards initially caught one of my group members' attention. With shared interest and enthusiasm, we decided to observe the painting in depth. In the painting was five (5) police officer captured in slightly different angles in front of a high wave that is about to crash. Each of the police officer had a plastic water-gun held close to the side of their chest and beneath their right arm. The police officer to the second left was wearing what looks like an African Craft Voodoo (tribal) mask. One of the members Ryan McDonald instantly thought of ‘Babylon.’ According to Definitions from Oxford Languages, “Babylon is a contemptuous or dismissive term for aspects white culture seen as degenerate or oppressive used chiefly among Rastafarians.” Lastly, an intriguing (ongoing) mixed media collage by Camille Chedda titled ‘We live under the same sky.’ This collage was a fascinating piece that had a lot of different things happening, digitally. Pictures and tablets that displayed short footage were behind building blocks and small bags of cement. These pieces we selected were simply mind-blowing. Initially, we planned to achieve deeper knowledge of the term ‘Pressure’ that goes beyond my interpretation and how different artistic minds would define this term in the form of art. Our expectations were indeed exceeded.

Omari Ra, the artist of the above piece presented it in the National Gallery of Jamaica for visitors, primarily Jamaican citizens to see. The name of the piece, Bushwacked itself can be related a form of guerilla warfare common in many conflicts in American history but is being related to the lone ranger comics here. The central aspect focuses on two men wrestling, with the black man being caught in a tight lock by a faceless white man, an oppressive theme. The lone ranger persona also follows this, depicted as a white masked ranger on a white steed, a cut out figure from the comic books but believed to be based on Bass Reeves a black law enforcement officer due to many similarities between their tales. The theme of oppression is strong in this piece, as the smaller badges on this acrylic blue are depicting the suspended governor general’s insignia of The Order of St. Michael and St. George. It depicts a White man – said to be a triumphant archangel — with his foot on the neck of a Black man, who is believed to be Satan. Contextual analysis was the method used here, as it best captures the cultural significance and theme of oppression being presented with this piece.