Spiritual Yards: Home Ground of Jamaica’s Intuitives – Selections from the Wayne and Myrene Cox Collection, continues until January 29, 2017, and explores the spiritual yard tradition in Jamaica, through ten Intuitive artists whose work is steeped in that tradition. The works of art and documentary material in this exhibition were selected from the Wayne and Myrene Cox Collection, a specialized collection of Intuitive Art. Here is another post on one of the artists in the exhibition, along with video footage, courtesy of Wayne Cox.
Elijah (b1952) – Geneva Mais Jarrett became ‘Elijah’ when she was baptised as a young adult. During the baptism, her pastor saw a vision of bands of angels around her along with the biblical prophet Elijah. From that moment, she took on the role of preacher and prophetess, creating the Elijah Tabernacle in her home in the community of Rose Town, Kingston. She consecrated the area by painting most of the outside surfaces of the building, gate and zinc fencing with mural scenes of angels and events of the bible. She also hung painted banners and seals, as well as set up revival basins. Her yard became a safe haven in tough times. She began to create similar scenes on canvas after becoming noticed by a Swiss patron who visited her yard. Later, she had her first exhibition in Switzerland in the early 1990s, including a one-woman show at Musee d’Art Brut in Lausanne. Her works have been featured in several exhibitions including Redemption Songs: The Self-Taught Artists of Jamaica (1997) at the Diggs Gallery, North Carolina USA and the Intuitives III (2006) at the National Gallery of Jamaica. Her work is in the permanent collection of Frost Art Museum, Miami. She closed her Revival yard sometime around 2000 and is believed to now be living and preaching in the USA.
