ABOUT THE COLLECTOR

Theresa Roberts was born in St. Eizabeth, Jamaica and lived there for the first 8 years of her life, following which, she moved to London with family. From 1999 she started returning to Jamaica regularly and now has a home on the island. During her time in London, Theresa became heavily involved in the art world, initially collecting European art.

On her return to Jamaica, Theresa was tremendously impressed and proud to discover the quality and sophistication of the Jamaican visual arts scene. This led to her starting an important collection of Jamaican art. From this beginning, she became convinced that she wanted to promote Jamaican artists internationally.

Support for Jamaican artists has now become her main passion but she continues to be involved in various UK arts projects including DRIFT (which involves the installation of visual arts in the River Thames), the New Hall Cambridge art collection (which is the largest collection of women's art in Europe) and the establishment of the International Slavery Museum, which forms part of National Museums, Liverpool.


Jamaica Making
The Theresa Roberts Art Collection
Edited by Emma Roberts
Liverpool University Press 2022

Book title Jamaika Making - The Theresa Roberts Art Collection published 2022

This book accompanies the first exhibition entirely of Jamaican art to take place in the north-west of the UK. The exhibition, Jamaica Making: The Theresa Roberts Art Collection, is sited at the Victoria Gallery and Museum, Liverpool in 2022, and is a comprehensive presentation of the best of Jamaican art since the 1960s.

The Theresa Roberts Art Collection is the private collection of Theresa Roberts, a Jamaican-born businesswoman and philanthropist, who has made the UK her home. This collection offers an important insight into the development of Jamaican art since the country gained Independence in 1962. Indeed, the exhibition also acts to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Jamaican independence in 2022.
Included in the book are the following: an official welcome from the Prime Minister of Jamaica; an essay by the collector, exhibition donor and philanthropist, Theresa Roberts; an introduction by eminent British-Jamaican art historian, Edward Lucie-Smith; essays by Emma Roberts, the exhibition curator (Liverpool John Moores University), Davinia Gregory, writer, educator and researcher (Columbia University, USA) and Sireita Mullings, arts practitioner and visual sociologist (University of Bedfordshire). The final section of the book is the full visual catalogue of the Jamaica Making exhibition - a unique record of this historic exhibition.

Emma Roberts is Associate Dean (Global Engagement) at Liverpool John Moores University.