As a part of the 2023 exhibition schedule, the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ) is looking forward to the resumption of its ‘open call exhibitions’ – juried art shows publicly inviting professional and amateur artists (whether formally trained or self-taught) to submit artwork. The last such shows held under the auspices of the NGJ, were the Summer Show in 2019 and Due West, held at National Gallery West (Montego Bay) in 2020. This year, the NGJ invites all Jamaican visual artists to submit artworks for an upcoming exhibition entitled The Face of Us, scheduled for public opening on December 10, 2023.
The title of this upcoming show – The Face of Us – is a prompt intended to encourage applicants to submit works of Portraiture. It is anticipated that the Artists will create and submit portrait works that express the personal and social responses of Jamaicans, to the cultural and economic realities of their lives within the last three years; whether in local or international contexts. Portrait works for The Face of Us exhibition can feature real or fictitious personalities as individual character or model portrayals, as well as group and self-portraits. Regardless of media or style, successful portrait submissions for The Face of Us exhibition, are expected to be representations and interpretations of contemporary Jamaican identities.
Submission and Adjudication
ALL entries for The Face of Us exhibition must be made electronically, submitted during the period from Monday, September 11 to Friday, September 15, 2023. The submissions are to be made to the email address educate@natgalja.org.jm. Artists may submit up to a maximum of two (2) artworks in total, which should have been created and completed no earlier than year 2019.
Additionally, the submissions will be juried in a 2-part process:
- Round 1 – the jury will make a preliminary selection from the electronic submissions. The selected entries would qualify for Round 2 and the artists for those works will be asked to physically submit them to the NGJ, at 12 Ocean Boulevard, Kingston at a date to be announced.
- Round 2 – The jury will make the final selection for the show from the artworks that were brought to the Gallery. No new entries will be eligible.
For Entry Forms, Guidelines and other details, please visit The Face of Us exhibition webpage.
Eligibility
The Face of Us exhibition is open to all artists resident in Jamaica, Jamaican artists resident overseas and artists of direct Jamaican parentage (based locally or overseas). Artists submitting works from overseas should electronically submit digital photographs and/or proposal documents, for the works they wish to enter.
Reminders
The submission period for all artwork submissions will be Mondays to Fridays, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, beginning on September 11, 2023, and closing on September 15, 2023 at 3:30 pm. For further information, please contact the NGJ at (876)922-1561/3 (Flow landline), or (876)618-0654/5 (Digicel fixed line).