- Carlington Wilmot/Freelance Photographer
Maquette of Alvin Marriott's 'National Monument' (1963) which has still not been erected.
Georgia Hemmings, Staff Reporter
THE IDEA behind creating monuments is to keep memories alive be it of a person, an event or a time in history a memorial or reminder. While in several countries, many commemorative structures exist in streets or public places, here in Jamaica our history of monument-making is relatively young.
Of course, we have sculpture established in memory of leading figures of our colonial past, including those of Sir Charles Metcalfe (Governor of Jamaica, 1839-1842), and Queen Victoria, Lewis Bowerbank of medical fame and King Edward. The Rodney Memorial in Spanish Town is another historical marker, and there is one of the Latin American liberator, Simon Bolivar, in Kingston.
In recent times, however, most of our national monuments are dedicated to our National Heroes, with one honouring a popular icon, Robert Nesta Marley, and, the newest, a symbol to Independence/Emancipation.
The process involved in choosing and constructing national monuments is the focus of the current exhibition at the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ), titled Monumental History. It opened in early August just as heated debates were swirling around the Laura Facey-Cooper-inspired "Redemption Song" at Emancipation Park in New Kingston.
CONTRADICTORY
Curated by Petrina Dacres, the show is particular appropriate given the discussions sparked by the Redemption Song monument in Emancipation Park.
According to her, the process of creating monuments and heroes in Jamaica has not been a smooth one, is highly nuanced and sometimes contradictory. "We wanted to highlight the social debates that have shaped our public monuments," she said.
Indeed, there seems to be a huge controversy every time a public statue is erected in Jamaica. Take the Paul Bogle monument in front of the Morant Bay courthouse in St. Thomas. Created by well-known and respected artist, Edna Manley, the "bold" statue was of a black warrior with machete in hand.
When it was officially opened in 1965, on the 100th anniversary of the Morant Bay Rebellion, the controversy that erupted was that the Bogle statue was too black. The squabble was eventually quelled and the Bogle statue remains, triumphant in front of the courthouse.
Controversy also attended the monument which was commissioned by art patron/civil engineer, A. D. Scott, and executed by sculptor Alvin Marriott in 1962. Aimed at enshrining Jamaica's status as an independent nation, this monument comprised a nude man and woman on top and arising from a base of some 300 intertwined Jamaican figures, representing the racial groups making up the country's population. But in the ensuing debate, people said they weren't prepared to look at dead bodies piled high from the ground, so only the summit pieces were finished. It was this piece which was recently on loan to the National Housing Trust at the entrance to Emancipation Park. It has since been moved to the Harbour View roundabout, its proposed final resting place.
MONUMENTS ON SHOW
On show are the maquettes of the monument, as well as the various "letters to the Editor" from newspapers of the day.
The exhibition also shows artist Christopher Gonzales' Bob Marley, described as the "most controversial and debated" monument in Jamaica's post-colonial history."
Gonzales depicted the famed musician/singer/composer as a prophet of the Old Testament standing on a rooted base, instead of feet, with his "dreadlocks" spilling down into the roots, and a guitar slung from the shoulders. But the statue was rejected buy the Government after noisy demonstrations by scores of people who claimed that it did not look like Bob, and another realistic one created by Alvin Marriott. That work now stands in Celebrity Park, opposite the National Stadium.
Photographs of various maquettes for Gonzales' sculpture are shown, as well as diary entries recording his thoughts, photographs of Bob Marley used to study his features and a maquette of the completed monument. The original monument was stored at the National Gallery for years before being placed on loan recently at Island Village Mall in Ocho Rios.
The exhibition also documents the "Redemption Song" monument in various stages of creation. Reproduction of editorials and letters are displayed to show the wide disparity of views about the immense, unclothed figures that are the central feature of a fountain depicting Emancipation.
Nudity, racism, the message and meaning are some of the issues being hotly debated, and, in a surprisingly interactive element, the gallery invites viewers to "weigh in" on the debate. An open comment book has a few opinions recorded views on the monument, as well as the debate.
UNCONTROVERSIAL
The only statue seemingly erected without controversy was Alvin Marriott's The Runner at the National Stadium. It celebrates the achievements of athletes Herb McKenley, Arthur Wint, George Rhoden, and Les Laing who were gold medallists in the 1952 Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, the historical background is outlined about the monuments for our seven National Heroes, the winning designs being selected in open
competitions.
All are currently located in the well-kept celebrity section in the National Heroes Park (formerly George VI Memorial Park). The open minimalistic structure honouring Sir Alexander Bustamante was created by architect Errol Alberga, while the enclosed cenotaph for Norman Manley was designed by H. D. Repole in collaboration with Christopher Gonzales.
Monuments to Nanny of the Maroons and activist Sam Sharpe were designed by Compass Workshop and unveiled in 1999, while monuments to Paul Bogle (H. D. Repole), George William Gordon (Christopher Gonzales) and Marcus Garvey (G. C. Hodges/Alvin Marriott) were created earlier.
Also included in the exhibition are Edna Manley's monumental version of Negro Aroused sited on the Kingston waterfront at the bottom of King Street and a digitised print of G.W. James The Right Excellent Nanny (1994) at the front entrance to the University of the West Indies, Mona. Images and acts of vandalism are also included.
Spaciously laid out over three rooms, the exhibition is highly educational. It provides an historical context for the current debate about the process of "heroisation" and monument production. The sculptural figures, photographs, documents, newspaper articles and points of view aid in the appreciation.
"Additionally, the exhibition is designed to examine the process of promoting Jamaican culture through visual means," Ms. Dacres told The Sunday Gleaner. "And the aesthetic or artistic process involved in conceiving monumental forms."
All in all, readers can appreciate first-hand the long, involved process of making monuments, truly a fractious one.
