Ricky Culture – Shack (c2008, Three Mile)
– Photo: Olivia McGilchrist
A Rastafarian artist based in Cockburn Gardens, Ricky Culture does a number of commissions in his community including memorial murals, and murals on bars, restaurants and community walls. His work is supported by King Alpha, a Rastafarian leader in Majesty Gardens who uses Ricky’s murals to help uplift his community. Many of Ricky’s works show his Rastafarian faith. For the Anything with Nothing exhibition he has painted an image of Judgement Day with Selassie’s horse trampling the Pope, a Country Scene and a set of Nyabinghi Drummers.
Ricky Culture – Judgement (2014, in exhibition) – Photo: Olivia McGilchrist
He said:
“…for years if someone dies I will do the mural on the wall or if you have any establishment that wants to publish their business I will do the graffiti – the works they do. So it’s a service I’ve been offering the area for many years now, you know. You know how it go in the ghetto you don’t have a job you have to try entrepreneurship – do you own ting. So give thanks for the Almighty that gave me a gift that I can move forward in this hard time of economic crisis – you see what mi a deal wid?
The art thing is a natural thing from birth. From a youth coming up in school I just draw up everything because I had the passion from early so it became my life, you know, it just becomes a part of me. It’s over 30 odd years now ’cause I’m in my 50s now…. So you see even the murals, they are very important to the individuals ’cause when them have their people dead and you draw a picture of the people and it preserves the history so that is one of the ting…”
