Jamaican Journeys: Identity, Place and
Conversations through Art
Dundee Gallery, Lamb Gallery, Tower Building, Nethergate, August 2025
An exhibition of contemporary visual art from Jamaica, on loan from the Theresa Roberts Collection
Header image: Sireita Mullings, Heaven’s Chant, digital print, 2017
This exhibition celebrates the diverse, vibrant and engaging visual culture that has emerged from Jamaica since its independence in 1962. It features a wide range of artworks from the extensive private collection of Jamaican-born entrepreneur and philanthropist Theresa Roberts. Including paintings, sculpture, photography and printmaking, Jamaican Journeys provides a unique opportunity to explore artistic, geographic and historical connections between dynamic cultural identities and conversations about what it means to be Jamaican. These pieces provide a reflective journey through the work of many of Jamaica’s most celebrated artists, including renowned Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art alumna, Judy Ann MacMillan.
The exhibition is on from 11 August – 24 October 2025 and is open Monday-Friday 9.30am-7pm. During summer vacation (until 19 Sept), last entry is 5pm.
Main image: Detail from Richard Nattoo, See, ink and watercolour on paper, 2021
The exhibition is a collaboration between the University of Dundee and Liverpool John Moores University with support from the Jamaican Patty Company, the Black Circle Gallery and the University of Hull. It has been curated by Dr Susan P Mains and Matthew Jarron (University of Dundee) with Dr Emma Roberts (Liverpool John Moores University).
Find out more about the University of Dundee Museums
Theresa Roberts’ Artwork Selected for Catalogue for Prestigious Paris Exhibition
"Jamaican Art" shows top-class Caribbean art in the museum in the monastery
Landkreis Osnabrück Thursday, July 3, 2025
This exhibition was inspired by The Jamaica Making Theresa Roberts collection
Bersenbrück. The new special exhibition “Jamaican Art” has been ceremoniously opened in the district's own museum in the Bersenbrück monastery. More than 30 established and up-and-coming artists from the 20th and 21st centuries are presented with works and biographies. This is the fifth time that the museum has aligned its content with the annual Reggae Jam Festival in the monastery garden. After several exhibitions with a musical focus, such as “Marleyville” in 2022 and “Dub Museum” in 2023, a new focus is now being placed on visual art from the island nation. The collection assembled for “Jamaican Art” is impressive, as it includes works by Jamaican artists of international renown such as Edna Manley, Albert Huie and David Pottinger. Even before independence from Great Britain, their works had an identity-forming effect on the Jamaican population, which was on the verge of entering the politically extremely turbulent new post-colonial era. The exhibition was put together by Frankfurt Jamaica expert and art collector Karl-Olaf Kaiser together with museum director Katharina Pfaff. They were provided with works of art by numerous lenders from Germany, France and Jamaica. They also compiled a catalog that summarizes the main contents. During the opening ceremony in the museum garden, district councillor Matthias Selle thanked everyone who had contributed to the exhibition. “It is a special opportunity for our museum to be able to present art of such standing,” he emphasized. After his welcoming speech, Jamaican-British art collector Theresa Roberts, who was appointed Special Envoy in 2023 by Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness due to her great services to Jamaican art and culture, spoke. She also expressed her gratitude for the extraordinary opportunity to give Jamaican art a stage on the European continent. Curator Karl-Olaf Kaiser then reported on the creation of the exhibition, before Munich art historian Claudia Hucke gave an expert classification of the exhibition in her opening speech. The exhibition opening was moderated by Katharina Pfaff. There was an opportunity for further discussion in the exhibition, while DJ Jah T provided a Caribbean atmosphere in the museum garden. Several of the exhibited artists from Germany, other European countries and Jamaica had traveled to the event and mingled with the interested local audience. The Kreisheimatbund Bersenbrück, which runs the museum in cooperation with the district's cultural office, took care of the catering for the guests. The exhibition “Jamaican Art” can be seen at the Museum im Kloster Bersenbrück until August 24. Admission to the museum is free on the first Saturday of every month, as well as during the Reggae Jam Festival from August 1 to 3.
Theresa Roberts’ Artwork Selected for Catalogue for Prestigious Paris Exhibition
Theresa Roberts’ Artwork Selected for Catalogue for Prestigious Paris Exhibition
An important artwork in the Theresa Roberts Collection of Jamaican Art has been selected for the extensive catalogue to accompany the ground-breaking new exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The Kite by Karl Parboosingh (n.d.) has been reproduced as a large-scale colour plate for the catalogue to accompany the new Paris exhibition, ‘Paris Noir’. ‘Paris Noir’ (‘Black Paris’) “retraces the presence and influence of Black artists in France from the 1950s to 2000” (Centre Pompidou, 2025) and uncovers their often untold activities and influence: https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/program/calendar/event/VRo249Yhttps://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/program/calendar/event/VRo249Y The exhibition, which is open until 30th June 2025, will be the final one to be sited at the Centre Pompidou before it closes for an extensive renovation period for five years until 2030. Karl Parboosingh (1923-1975) was a Jamaican artist, born in Kingston, but who travelled widely and studied in Europe during and after World War II. His expressionistic style is linked with the nationalist drive in Jamaica that led to the country’s Independence in 1962. His work of the 1940s and 1950s is seen to be influenced by and extending the strides made by key French painters, such as Henri Matisse and Fernand Léger. Parboosingh’s story and artworks are therefore a vital part of the ‘Black Paris’ of the twentieth century. His painting, 'The Kite' can be found in the important catalogue, edited by curator, Alicia Knock, which accompanies the exhibition: https://www.boutiquesdemusees.fr/en/product/61764-paris-noir-catalogue-de-exposition- fra.htmlhttps://www.boutiquesdemusees.fr/en/product/61764-paris-noir-catalogue-de-exposition- fra.html Ambassador Theresa Roberts states, “I am delighted to lend the image of one of the key works from my collection to this publication by the Centre Pompidou. In my role as Ambassador and Special Envoy for Culture and the Arts for the Jamaican Government, I am keen to highlight the true extent of the achievements and importance of artists like Karl Parboosingh to the world.” Emma Roberts
Jamaica Patty Co. Celebrates Windrush 75
VP Records
published 20 June 2023
On 22 June each year, British Caribbean communities come together to celebrate Windrush.
Windrush is the name given to the ship by the British government, and which brought immigrants from Jamaica and the Caribbean to the UK. June 22 acknowledges the contributions the Windrush generation and their descendants have made to British society.
One of the celebrations, taking place at Jamaica Patty Co., is hosted by Theresa Roberts, Jamaica’s new UK ambassador for Arts & Culture. From 3pm to 9pm, at Convent Garden, Theresa and team will entertain guests with music from historic record labels VP Records and Greensleeves Records. There will also be an exhibition from some of the UK’s finest UK-based artists. The event is an official presentation by Ambassador Roberts and VP Records.
Read the VP Records Article online
Visit Greensleeves for more information
'Sweetness and Sorrow'
Jamaica Making Collection displayed at the Way Out East Gallery
University of East London
19 – 28 October 2022, published 21 October 2022
A rare exhibition curated solely of art from Jamaican artists is displayed at the University of East London's Way Out East Gallery.
The title Sweetness and Sorrow comes the poem written by the Jamaican poet Andre Bolt (2007). This exhibition has evolved from 'Jamaica Making: The Theresa Roberts Art Collection', curated by Dr. Emma Roberts at the Victoria Gallery and Museum in Liverpool. That exhibition comprised of some artworks in the collection of Theresa Roberts, who is founder and owner of the Jamaica Patty Co. restaurant, based in Covent Garden and Liverpool Street, London.
The show compiled of 14 contemporary pieces, evolved from the Jamaica Making exhibition, which was curated by Dr Emma Roberts and presented in partnership with the Victoria Gallery and Museum in Liverpool. The exhibition title, Sweetness and Sorrow, comes from a poem written by Jamaican poet Andre Bolt.
The work attempts to move away from the ideas of the Caribbean as a paradise and tracks the history of Jamaica since independence in 1962. The subject matter of the work touches on prostitution, spiritually, disease, death and how the body is viewed.
"I was first given a piece of art by my dear friend and favourite artist, David Begbie, which first developed my interest and inspired me to collect more" said Theresa.
"As I began to explore more pieces, I learnt that Jamaica had a wonderful, unexplored art community for a small island. When I went back to Jamaica and saw the range of work and topics explored, I decided that my next passion would be to collect and promote the work of Jamaican artists.
It is so important to showcase work from diverse artists as it goes out to the world and wider audiences. I do not want to collect art for myself, I want to show the world and younger people what Jamaica can produce. After all, art is for sharing" she continued.
Pauline de Souza, lecturer in cultural manoeuvres and director of the Diversity Art Forum said:
"We’re thrilled to be presenting this show in the Way Out East Gallery. Like all Caribbean islands, Jamaica is rarely seen as an individual country. This show allows Jamaicans to tell their own, real stories about their vibrant home, away from colonial history and touristic influences.
It is impossible for us to give one definition of who we are, so presenting diverse art such as this allows us to show the many different interpretations and characteristics of a location or group of people."
Sweetness and Sorrow will run at the Way Out East Gallery from Wednesday 19 – Friday 28 October.
Hero Carousel, published 21 October 2022
Pauline de Souza, lecturer in cultural manoeuvres and director of the Diversity Art Forum said:
"We’re thrilled to be presenting this show in the Way Out East Gallery. Like all Caribbean islands, Jamaica is rarely seen as an individual country. This show allows Jamaicans to tell their own, real stories about their vibrant home, away from colonial history and touristic influences.
"It is impossible for us to give one definition of who we are, so presenting diverse art such as this allows us to show the many different interpretations and characteristics of a location or group of people."
Sweetness and Sorrow will run at the Way Out East Gallery from Wednesday 19 – Friday 28 October 2022
'Sweetness And Sorrow'
Exhibition London 17-28 October 2022
University of East London
Diversity Art Forum was very pleased to be involved in this amazing exhibition Sweetness and Sorrow exhibition at the Way Out East Gallery.
The title 'Sweetness and Sorrow' comes the poem written by the Jamaican poet Andre Bolt (2007). This exhibition has evolved from 'Jamaica Making: The Theresa Roberts Art Collection', curated by Dr. Emma Roberts at the Victoria Gallery and Museum in Liverpool. That exhibition comprised of some artworks in the collection of Theresa Roberts, who is founder and owner of the Jamaica Patty Co. restaurant, based in Covent Garden and Liverpool Street, London.
Read on: Diversity Art Forum article
'Sweetness and Sorrow Exhibition'
BBC Radio Merseyside documentary:
Jamaica Making: The Theresa Roberts Art Collection
18 February 2022
The first exhibition of wholly Jamaican art to be displayed in North-West England has found its home in Liverpool.
Jamaica Making: The Theresa Roberts Art Collection exhibition at the Victoria Gallery and Museum will feature more than thirty artworks from the extensive collection of Jamaican-born entrepreneur and philanthropist Theresa Roberts.
Watch - BBC Watch (FaceBook)
Victoria Gallery & Museum Liverpool
Former Prime Minister of Jamaica opens Victoria&Albert Museum Exhibition
22 February 2022
Amanda Draper:
“Jamaica Making has been one of our most vibrant and popular exhibitions, attracting new audiences and enabling us to engage with diverse communities across our city. It has been an inspiration to work with collector Theresa Roberts, whose enthusiasm for promoting the art of Jamaica drove the exhibition forward, and with Dr Emma Roberts of Liverpool John Moores University, whose extensive knowledge of the Jamaican artworld underpinned the project.”
A new exhibition showcasing the vibrancy and variety of contemporary Jamaican art since the country’s Independence in 1962 will open at the University of Liverpool’s Victoria Gallery & Museum on Saturday, 19 February.
The University of Liverpool: "An exhibition showcasing the vibrancy and variety of contemporary Jamaican art since the country’s Independence in 1962. Jamaican-born entrepreneur and philanthropist Theresa Roberts has kindly lent from her extensive private collection. It shows a Jamaica beyond the tourist idyll - a country with its challenges but a strong sense of identity and culture."
The ‘Jamaica Making: The Theresa Roberts Art Collection’ exhibition will feature more than thirty artworks from the extensive private collection of Jamaican-born entrepreneur and philanthropist Theresa Roberts.
It is the first exhibition entirely of Jamaican art to take place in the north-west of England and offers a comprehensive presentation of the best of Jamaican art since the 1960s.
The exhibition features a mix of established names and emerging talent, expressing their world through a blend of painting, sculpture, photography and mixed-media.
Read on - Article The Guide Liverpool
Victoria Gallery & Museum Liverpool
Jamaica Making: The Theresa Roberts Art Collection
Galleries 6 & 7, 19 February - 9 July 2022
A new exhibition showcasing the vibrancy and variety of contemporary Jamaican art since the country’s Independence in 1962 will open at the University of Liverpool’s Victoria Gallery & Museum on Saturday, 19 February.
The University of Liverpool: "An exhibition showcasing the vibrancy and variety of contemporary Jamaican art since the country’s Independence in 1962. Jamaican-born entrepreneur and philanthropist Theresa Roberts has kindly lent from her extensive private collection. It shows a Jamaica beyond the tourist idyll - a country with its challenges but a strong sense of identity and culture."
The ‘Jamaica Making: The Theresa Roberts Art Collection’ exhibition will feature more than thirty artworks from the extensive private collection of Jamaican-born entrepreneur and philanthropist Theresa Roberts.
It is the first exhibition entirely of Jamaican art to take place in the north-west of England and offers a comprehensive presentation of the best of Jamaican art since the 1960s.
The exhibition features a mix of established names and emerging talent, expressing their world through a blend of painting, sculpture, photography and mixed-media.
Read on - Article The Guide Liverpool
Enter the interactive 3D exhibition:
‘Jamaica Making: The Theresa Roberts Art Collection’
Jamaica Making
The Theresa Roberts Art Collection
Edited by Emma Roberts
Liverpool University Press 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.
Britain’s Black History Month 2021 Launches with Powerful Jamaican Art Exclusive Private View
Exclusive private viewing of 15 pieces of art from 11 Jamaican artists based in Jamaica, the USA and the UK.
Read the full article: https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/news/britains-black-history-month-2021-launches-with-powerful-jamaican-art-exclusive-private-view/
ART AWAKENING HUMANITY
2-7PM, 25 OCTOBER 2017, 39 WALBROOK, LONDON EC4N 8BN
An interactive afternoon of short talks and meditations organised by St Stephen Walbrook in partnership with Awakened Artists and Watkins Mind Body Spirit Magazine. The event includes contributions from artists, collectors & spiritual teachers centred around the relationship between art and the spiritual dimension. Inspired by a recent interview with Eckhart Tolle in Mind Body Spirit Magazine, the afternoon will primarily focus on art's capacity to 'awaken' humanity and serve as a portal to the invisible realms of beauty.
The event will be held in the context of an exhibition at St Stephen Walbrook of Alexander de Cadenet’s ‘Life-Burgers’, works which question the vanity of worldly existence and explores the “cultural hero system” proposed by philosopher Ernest Becker.
Presenters: Alexander de Cadenet, Jonathan, Theresa Roberts, Revd Mark Dean, Roseline de Thélin, Jonathan Kearney, Edward Lucie-Smith and Revd Jonathan Evens.
For more information please visit: awakenedartists.com/events | Read the Press Release Art Awakening Humanity
Jamaican Spiritual
A Jamaican Art Exhibition at St Stephen Walbrook, London
03 - 14 July 2017
The show is made up of painting,sculpture and photography highlighting the strong spiritual nature of Jamaica and it’s people. Whilst predominantly Christian, Jamaica is home to a wide mix of religions which coexist peacefully.The variety of spiritual beliefs held on the island reflect the diverse nature of the people who live there and the motto of the country ”Out of many one people.“
Whilst spirituality is the overriding theme the exhibition inevitably also offers a compelling insight into the diverse nature and vibrancy of modern Jamaica.
Open the Jamaica Spiritual Catalogue (PDF)
'Jamaican Connections'
Falmouth Gallery - 06 July 2015 - 03 August 2015
Read on …
This exhibition showcases the links between Falmouth and the Caribbean island of Jamaica, 5,000 miles away. As well as sharing Falmouth's name for one of its parishes, Jamaica was also host to the artist Henry Scott Tuke.
In 1923 Tuke embarked upon a trip to Jamaica, spending many months painting water colours of boats, figures and landscapes.He was based in Black River the capital of St Elizabeth Parish, and the show begins with landscapes of this town.
Work on show will also include paintings by Jamaica's most celebrated living artist, Barrington Watson, alongside a selection from Jamaica's eclectic art scene.
Open the Jamaica Connection Catalogue (PDF)
ART JAMAICA IN FASHION - watch the video
Exhibition of fashion inspired by art in collaboration with Sharmain Forde Couture
8 – 13 August 2012, 27 Cork Street, London
Images: THE STYLE OBSERVER JAMAICA, September 2012
-> download PDF Article Style Observer -> download PDF Art Jamaica Catalogue
BLACK CIRCLE GALLERY
EXHIBITION 8 – 13 August 2012, 27 Cork Street, London - watch the video
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‘Jamaican Men - A Collectors Choice’
19 - 29 June 2012
Europe House, 32 Smith Square, London SW1
ArtJamaica in conjunction with 12 Star Gallery at Europe House is delighted to announce that it will be staging a new exhibition featuring 30 works entitled "Jamaican Men, “A Collectors Choice" between 20th and 29th June 2012.
The new show complements the previous exhibition "Art Jamaica" put on at Murray Edwards College Cambridge in October 2010 which featured Jamaican women artists.
The latest show demonstrates some of the major themes in Jamaican Art and the way in which they have been treated by artists such as Albert Huie in the 1970's through to contemporary male artists such as Philip Thomas.
An interesting sub-theme is the way in which families (such as the Watsons- HRH Prince Harry of Wales unveiled Basil Watson’s painting on his recent trip to Jamaica), have passed the creative instinct from one generation to the next creating artistic dynasties in the process.
ArtJamaica is a not for profit organisation established by Theresa Roberts (one of Europe's foremost collectors of Jamaican Art) to promote the art of the island.
12 Star Gallery is the art gallery established in Europe House,32 Smith Square, London SW1P 3EU.The gallery is open 10am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.
2012 is the 50th anniversary of Jamaica's independence.
Read the article of Jonathan Fryer about the exhibition: http://jonathanfryer.wordpress.com/2012/06/19/jamaican-men
Catalogue: Jamaican-Men_catalogue.pdf
Watch our video!
'Spirit of Jamaica'
11 - 16 October 2011
BlackCircle Gallery Exhibition featuring the work of Jamaican Artists
14 Percy Street, London, W1
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‘The Spirit of Jamaica”
Exhibition at The House of Lords, London, October 2011
See the catalogue (PDF):
Art-Jamaica Exhibition
Chateau Giez, Geneva, July 2011
See the catalogue (PDF):
