The National Gallery of Jamaica’s Last Sundays programme continues on Sunday, October 27 with a screening of Russell Watson’s feature film, A Hand Full of Dirt (2010). Visitors will also get the opportunity to view the New Roots: 10 Emerging Artists exhibition, which has been extended to November 2. Doors will open from 11 am to 4 pm.
New Roots features work in a variety of new and conventional media by 10 artists under 40 years old, namely Deborah Anzinger, Varun Baker, Camille Chedda, Gisele Gardner, Matthew McCarthy, Olivia McGilchrist, Astro Saulter, Nile Saulter, Ikem Smith, and The Girl and the Magpie.
As a special feature for Sunday, A Hand Full of Dirt will be screened at 1:30 pm. The film tells the story of what happens when each of the men in the Redman family – father, grandson and son – is faced with the choice of securing his own future or repeating the betrayals of the family’s past. Archie Redman is a middle aged man burdened by the weight of an unfulfilled life. He rises reluctantly each day to face a large, empty house, his wife, having left him and his son away at university. Thousands of miles away, Archie’s son Jay faces worries of his own. He is stuck in immigration limbo, essentially penniless in a cold, unforgiving city but unable to legally work until his father pays off his substantial debt with the school. As the year ends and the holiday season arrives, Archie and Jay will find the walls closing in on them. The key to their salvation seems to lie with one man, family patriarch Ben Redman, and his plot of hard–won plantation land.
A Hand Full of Dirt is Russell Watson’s first feature length motion picture. He was born and raised in Barbados, where he got his start in theatre and was a protégé of the late Earl Warner. He is a graduate of the Edna Manley School of Drama, Jamaica and holds a MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
As is now customary, admission to the National Gallery will be free on Sunday, October 27 and free guided tours and gallery-based children’s activities will be offered. The gift and coffee shop will also be open and contributions to the donations box are welcomed. Donations help to fund programmes such as the New Roots exhibition and our Last Sundays programmes.
