Conceptions of morality
published: Friday | August 8, 2003

THE EDITOR, Sir:

IT IS interesting that several positions in defence of Laura Facey-Cooper's new work in Emancipation Park take the form of a critique against latent Eurocentrism in the collective mind of the Jamaican populace.

Those who view the piece with dismay, shock, disbelief, etc. do not do so out of shame at the depiction of the African body in the nude, but rather out of their own misguided conceptions of morality. It is not preference for European art vs. black/Jamaican art which you see coming out: It is the lack of appreciation for artistic expression itself.

I assure you that the Jamaican who has stood in awe at viewing the Sistine ceiling in person is most certainly not the Jamaican now in a furore over "Redemption Song". No, the tirade is quite simply a manifestation of ignorance in some quarters, and Facey-Cooper, like Michelangelo, suffers from being in the unenviable position of an artist who is ahead of her time.

I am, etc.,

KEVIN YOUNG

youngk@sc.dmjm.com

Florida

Via Go-Jamaica'

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