Jamaica, 1981

I originally created this series of Jamaican life in 1981 during a three week visit. I am excited by my recent deep dive into these non-embellished and authentic images which never saw the light of day after they were originally made.

These photographs, which were made some 43 years ago have been stored in my film archives, mostly untouched and unseen until now. I have recently started a deep dive into various portfolios of work made but had never been shared.

When I traveled to Jamaica in 1981, I lived and spent most of my time with local Jamaicans who accepted my never ending curiosity and always having a camera with me. My goal was to see the authentic side of rural life, away from the western styled hotels that so many people travel for the unblemished beaches and relaxed sounds of reggae music without ever having to get to know the people, the island culture or it's history. As it turns out, many Jamaicans, were living a life of deep poverty, but as is often the case, man of these people live a shared sense of culture thru music, various religious beliefs including Rastafari, the use of cannabis, family, but unfortunately, also a corrosive and exploitive history.

When I traveled to Jamaica in 1981, it was a very divisive time in Jamaican politics and their economy was having major difficulties. The further into the interior I traveled, some people were suspect of a white man with a camera shooting photographs in areas where there were politically motivated killings.

These images offer my sense of the island at a brief and specific time and place. Any grants awarded will be well used to continue recovering images for: editing, scanning, printing and organizing the archives and bringing them forward to be shared in various media with others.