New Possessions: Jamaican Artists in the U.S.
An Exhibition in Celebration of the 44^th Anniversary of Jamaican Independence
essay by exhibition curator Sarah Anita Clunis

            New Possessions, celebrates the 44^th anniversary of Jamaican independence by exhibiting the works of 15 contemporary Jamaican artists working in the United States.  The exhibition focuses on works by artists that, although Jamaican, choose to live and work outside of the island.  The exhibition’s aim is to offer an international audience a look at Jamaican art that has been profoundly influenced by the experience of Diaspora.

Diaspora has become a loaded term.  In the last ten years of scholarship, in both the humanities and social sciences, the term Diaspora has received a lot of airtime.  The origin of the word is Greek and means dispersal (specifically seed dispersal).  The word, in almost every dictionary, is connected to the historical dispersal of the Jews because of countless violent expulsions and attempts at ethnic cleansings.  The term Diaspora eventually became very important in describing the slave trade and dispersal of peoples of African descent in studies of the “Black Atlantic.”[i]  I think today when it is used in scholarship the African Diaspora is most commonly evoked, although the term is used in numerous texts to describe all different kinds of diasporas of people.  But the word itself can be a contentious and provocative one.  It evokes images of forced migrations and violent displacements of groups of people.  Diaspora scenarios of this sort include not only the African slave trade and the numerous expulsions of Jews from various homelands but also the forced migrations of Indian and Chinese laborers because of economic limitations in their homelands.  All of these diasporas are part of the Jamaican experience.  In fact the history of the Caribbean is characterized by forced migrations, involuntary expulsions, and eventual exiles making the Caribbean a literal space of Diaspora.  It is a region defined, created, and functioning by and because of Diaspora.  All of the people born into this space, the Creoles if you will, their lives are scripted by Diaspora.

Having said this, it is also my feeling that the term Diaspora is expansive enough to be used in a variety of different ways.  In most cases it is the most appropriate term to describe a number of physical, psychological, and historical conditions that are characterized by displacement and a “longing” for home.  The Diaspora experience of the artists in this exhibition is not one of violent expulsions or forced migrations.  As is their privilege they move back and forth from homeland to Western metropolis with relative ease.  They do, however, experience personal feelings of uprootedness and displacement, in all of the places that they roam and rest, including all of the places they call home.  So, it could be argued that Diaspora might also be an appropriate term to describe their rootless meanderings in the world.

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