Osmosis launch photos

Osmosis (link here) has positioned itself to be the
Caribbean's premier online arts portal.

I think it's an awesome idea!

Here are pictures from the launch,
which took place at Decor VIII,
(7 Hillcrest Avenue, Kingston, Jamaica), recently

Osmosis conceptualiser, Amitabh Sharma (second left) is surrounded by a
bevvy of beauties from left Heather Smith, Karen Carter and Wendy Jumpp.

Phillip Supersad plays the flute and accompanying drummers join in the beat.

Julian Robinson, minister of state in the Ministry of Science, Technology,
Energy and Mining, speaks at the launch event.

Osmosis Caribbean - Jamaica’s Premier Online Art Portal launched

Web initiative to market Jamaican and Caribbean fine art worldwide

It was a the perfect setting, starlight Caribbean skies, cozy ambiance, the beats of the drums resonated in the air to build up the crescendo as Jamaica’s premier online web initiative was launched on Wednesday, April 15, 2015.

The gardens at 8 Hillcrest Avenue came alive; as this initiative took centrestage, in a launch event sponsored by Scotia Private Banking Group.

“Osmosis Caribbean is taking Jamaican arts to the next level,” said Hon. Julian Robinson, Minister of State in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, in his keynote presentation.

Minister Robinson added that initiatives such as Osmosis Caribbean reaffirm Jamaica’s strategic position, as a hub for information technology, nurturing entrepreneurial capacity and taking Brand Jamaica to a global scale.

“I wish this venture all the success,” the minister said, adding that this venture will encourage setting up of other e-commerce initiatives in Jamaica.

Mr. Roger Grant, Centre Director, Scotia Private Banking Group, while congratulating the principals of Osmosis Caribbean, reaffirmed his institution’s support to the fine arts.

“We at Scotia Bank have always supported arts, being the organizers of Celebration of Arts exhibition, encouraging and nurturing new and emerging talent,” Mr. Grant said.

“This is not merely a web initiative,” Mr. Grant continued. “Osmosis Caribbean is hallmark of e-commerce and how businesses are conducted in 21^st Century.”

Unveiling the website, Mr. Amitabh Sharma, creator and the brains behind Osmosis Caribbean, expounded that the genesis of the concept was laid down during his deliberations with Art Gallery Décor VIII. “It is the birth of a new dimension and a new medium for the creative thought process,” Mr. Sharma, said, thanking Décor VIII for their support.

“Osmosis Caribbean is an initiative that takes Jamaican and Caribbean fine arts beyond the stereotypical, giving it a international flavor and reach out to the global sphere,” Mr. Sharma said.

He further informed the guests that Osmosis Caribbean is a truly indigenous product, having being designed and developed in Jamaica. “This is a representation of Brand Jamaica, and exhibits the top class quality, that is second to none in the world.”

The crescendo to the unveiling transcended into a mystical sphere, with the beats of the drums lead by ace drummer and ceramist par excellence, Phillip Supersad.

Osmosis Caribbean will showcase a range of fine art – from the masters to the young and contemporary artists. “What sets us apart is the fact that we would issue certificate of authenticity, personally signed by the artist, along with the artwork purchased,” informed Mr. Sharma. “The art enthusiast will not only be assured of investing in a quality artwork but also get a personalized touch with their purchase, which they can cherish for a lifetime.”

Osmosis Caribbean wishes to thank their Media Partner Caribbean 360.com, Associated Partner WhittyGordon Projects and has committed its support to Chupse as their outreach partner.

ABOUT OSMOSIS CARIBBEAN

The genesis of this venture was formed around the need to develop and harness an international market for Jamaican and Caribbean Fine Art, and authentic merchandise. 

The web initiative, conceptualized by Amitabh Sharma, a media professional, owner of Synapse Communications, a PR Consultancy, along with artists, marketing and technology specialists.

Osmosis, Caribbean’s 21st century initiative, will market and sell Jamaican and Caribbean fine art internationally. The venture seeks to converge the artists’ creations with technology, offering marketability of their works in the Caribbean and global high-end art marketplace. It is our endeavor to be agent for change. 

We will strive, constantly, to spread awareness of Caribbean’s art and artists; fulfill the demands of our consumer; and review the best creations in the market. We will provide new products and services; support and contribute to the artists’ community by hosting and supporting shows, events; and by promoting the Caribbean as an artist's oasis and destination.

For media queries and further information please contact: Amitabh Sharma, Synapse Communications, mobile: 1-876-339-2338 or email: synapseworld@gmail.com

Easton Lee’s ‘Kiss Mi Granny’ tells stories sweet like stew peas

It was “a wonderful stew peas evening” – from the first chords of Dr Carol Ball’s mini music segment, called ‘Sweet Riddims’, to the final sounds of Carole Reid singing old time Jamaican tunes, giving the audience a little ‘brawta’.

Jamaican culture and language were at the centre of Saturday evening’s celebration, even though the main purpose of the gathering was to launch Easton Lee’s fifth book, humorously titled ‘Kiss Mi Granny’.

Every presentation was rife with a mixture of patois and English, seasoned with anecdotes that elicited laughter from an enrapt audience. Chairperson Glynis Salmon, head of BalaPress, set the tone with a ‘Good Howdy-Do’, explaining that each of the evening’s segments would be likened to parts of the process of cooking a pot of stew peas.

After prayer by Father Laurius Lewis and a rendition of ‘Above All’ by songbird Andrae Shepherd, things went into slow simmer, with readings by Erica Allen, Fae Ellington, Leonie Forbes and Tiffani Robinson. Each lady read a praise poem from Lee’s book, giving the audience pause for reflection on the author’s love affair with his “Creator God”.

“Dance me, Lord, dance me,” read Ellington, the lilt and sway of her voice drawing the audience into a reverie of movement with the majestic. Leonie Forbes stoutly declared, “Dem sing and dance we story” – a poignant line from the poem ‘And When Dem Play and Sing’.

Carole Reid wrapped up the segment with her singing of ‘Oh My Gracious Father’, a song written by Lee to the tune of Puccini’s 'O Mio Babbino Caro’.

Then it was on to the second segment, and the simmer heated to a boil. Readings from Ellington, Forbes, Robinson, and Grace McGhie-Brown had the audience in stitches as they heard ‘Stories and Teachings From Granny’. The selections were jawbreakingly funny, and the readers emoted and expressed their roles like the veteran media and theatre personalities they were, to the amusement and delight of the audience.

Storyteller Amina Blackwood-Meeks read from the preface she wrote for the book, sharing that Easton introduced her to writing for radio, and helped her develop her “voice”, while admonishing her “vices”.  Professor Carolyn Cooper’s offering was a fitting reminder of one of Jamaica’s most famous ‘granny’ lines: “Mek fashion and tun yuh hand.”

“Only Easton Lee could have brought the cream of the creative arts and media together in such a satisfying mix,” said Steadman Fuller, keynote speaker for the evening, custos of Kingston and CEO of Kingston Bookshop, main distributors of Lee’s work.

Alluding to the stew peas imagery, he said that the readings gave “food for thought”, and brought to mind cultural icons Miss Lou (Louise Bennett), Maas Ran (Ranny Williams) and Miss Olive (Lewin). He added that Lee’s book was a call for a return to uplifting values like care and concern for each other, and said it should be made required reading in primary schools.

In his response in the evening’s final segment, Lee noted that one of his main motivations for writing ‘Kiss Mi Granny’ was “to give our younger generations an idea of what we were taught by our parents that have kept us”.

“We don’t pay enough attention to that wisdom and work ethic,” he lamented. “Do you know how many teachers, lawyers and doctors came out of that? That [work ethic] paid university fees for many of us.”

He went on to say that he strongly believed in living a life of purpose that would benefit younger generations. “Our life must be to help the young people to understand – to be proud of themselves and of Jamaica,” he said. “In God’s wisdom, he gave us each other. None of us can do without the other.”

In thanking everyone who attended the launch, or helped to make the book possible, he topped off what was truly an evening of sweet Jamaican stew with a line his own mother used very often: “God works in mischievous ways.”

Ray Chen's awesome new photo collection

Published in The Sunday Gleaner, March 22, 2015

He stumbled into photography by chance, and it became his life's driving passion. And now, after more than 50 years in the industry, Ray Chen is bequeathing to his homeland another pictorial legacy.

On Wednesday, March 18, Chen launched Jamaica: My 50 Years in Photography, in a small gathering of friends and associates at the Grogge Shop, Devon House, Kingston.

His friend of over 60 years, Lascelles Chin, spoke at the event, reminiscing about mischievous schoolboy days and exciting adolescent, then adult years. His memories were as vivid and colourful as Chen's book, from the bicycle rides, beach parties and bonfire nights they enjoyed as youngsters.
"We shared many things," Chin said, explaining that it was this bonding which led him to lend Chen a camera.

"I borrowed Chin's camera and never let it go after that," Chen joked, and what started with mainly photos for passports, weddings and pretty girls, as was the practice in Jamaica, grew into a finely honed craft that has earned Chen worldwide acclaim and brought him lifelong satisfaction.

"Photography ... it's in your blood and you can't get it out," he said with a smile. "In many ways, it's [been about] being in the right place at the right time."

After attending school at the New York Institute of Photography, Chen moved to Montreal, Canada, and, as he gained exposure to different styles and techniques, became a successful commercial photographer.

He has published two other books of pictorial essays, Jamaica: The land and the people (1984) and Jamaica: The beauty and the soul of the land we love (1993); as well as a historical volume commemorating the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Han Chinese to Jamaica, titled The Shopkeepers (2005).

Relevant depiction

This fourth work took Chen three years to complete, as he was very meticulous about the message he wanted to send. "It was tough," he said. "You have to think deep about what you want to say and put it in there. ... I don't think a foreigner would do it like this. You have to live the culture to know what's important and relevant."

Even though he had plenty material to work with at the start, he said he sometimes went to take pictures to fill in the gaps and "make the work complete".
 
"What's important to me is to document a lot of the things that we are slowly losing," Chen said.
"Because over time, things that are important to you are not going to be as important to the next generation. And I'm caught between the older and the younger, so I'm filling the generational gap."
Gloria Palomino, present at the launch, said: "[The book is] just phenomenal. Every school should have copies of it."

Howard Moo-Young, a renowned photographer in his own right, added, "I don't think there's any other Jamaican photographer who has achieved what Ray has done. I've known him for over 20 years. He has left a legacy for Jamaica and it will go on for generations and generations. It is a recording of life in Jamaica, of past years."

Wayne Chin, who has worked with Chen for years, praised him as "very humble ... his treatment of subject is phenomenal".

Barbara Gloudon summed it up perfectly when she said: "Ray Chen is a decent person with great love and respect for Jamaica. He genuinely loves Jamaica."

No judgement?

I have to shake my head and smile.

I'm at the taxi stand in New Kingston. Two taxi drivers are waiting for their respective vehicles to fill up with passengers. As is the custom with taxi men, they're killing the time with a conversation loud enough for the entire Knutsford Boulevard to hear.

"That's why me nuh judge nobody," Taxi Man One is saying. "A man can look pon you and decide seh because you look a certain way, him can class you. And then people catch on and start class you too. And nothing nuh go so!"

"Yeah man," Taxi Man Two chimed in. "Me hear seh them say him a B-man."

"Mek me tell you something," Taxi Man One rebuffed. "Me see him one day pon the stand, right? And me see a girl look like she a make a move to fi him car. So me not even a give her no check. But then she see me and start move toward my car and a say, 'wha gwaan, man? Long time no see.' So when she come inna the car, she a ask me wha me and him have because him tell her seh she and her B-man friend can gwaan. Me nuh say nothing. But now me a hear seh a so people a say. Yuh see because you look a certain way, people think say you a that ... But a you fi know what you know and nuh make nobody stop you from live your life."

His tone grows animated. You can tell he's getting irate.

"Them not even know me! Who ... A three babymother me have enuh!" And he continues the tirade until the taxi only needs one more person.

Across the street comes Mr Metrosexual, in a fitted pink-and-white striped shirt, briefcase in hand, walking with a sway. Taxi Man One points him out to his friend.

"Hey! Town?" He asks. The young man nods. 

"Me gone," he tells the other driver, then adds: "Him look like one a them."

They both laugh.

I have to shake my head and smile.

Ode to a poetic gathering

Every time I visit The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, it feels like coming home. There's a delicious divinity about a group of arts-centred minds and bodies gathered in one creative space. Like the push and pull of the moon on waves and tides, it moves me.

Yesterday I sat in a semi-circle of poets expressing livity: dissecting different aspects of their lives with surgical precision, using words like scalpels to make incisions with similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia ... .

I marvelled again at my love for prose. My illicit affair with words: written, spoken, sung, mimed and danced. Words on a page, words floating in space, a word settled so comfortably on a tongue, caressed by an accent and expelled on hot air ...

Poetry.

Prose.

Drama.

Literature.

Language.

Linguistics.

I love it. 

I love the dichotomy of sounds, the variations of rhythms, the pleasure of a word riding the wave a lilting voice ... . A thought given life through the process of articulation, breathed like magic into a space that it occupies until it vaporises. Or evaporates.

I love it.

I love the potency and cogency of words. I like that the Bible says, "In the beginning was the word ...". It gives me an excuse. Because when people speak, or write really well, I see God. And I worship at that altar.

So yesterday, when I visited the poetry society's monthly meeting, I had an experience with the divine Word. Word.

Sometimes you have to retreat ...

I went to a retreat this weekend.

It was, literally and figuratively, a breath of fresh air.

I feel like I've been catapulted into a space of mental clarity. Like, for a brief moment, a supernatural force has decided to grant me the serenity I have for years been seeking.

I had to literally accept the things I couldn't change when my beautiful orange

scarf made a clandestine escape through a bus window, gracefully billowing its goodbye to my fellow travellers while I slept, oblivious to the fact that my favourite scarf was literally gone with the wind. I had to let that go. I mean, I loved that scarf. It's been three good years. But meh. Life goes on.

Once upon a time, I would have had a near-funeral for that scarf. The way I used to mourn lost jewellery. But God has granted me the serenity. Ase (pronounced ashay). And that's another thing I learnt this weekend: ase. It's a Ghanaian word. It means amen, with a little bit of selah, and a lot of shalom.

I like it: ase. There's something powerful about breathing that word - like a prayer in a sigh. Ase. And so it is. Let it be so. 

Acceptance. Surrender. Peace.

I had to surrender to bathing in cold water. And let me tell you, it was kowl! Again, God granted me the serenity. Because the option was to either bathe with cold water or not bathe at all. I almost didn't bathe. But good sense prevailed. A little cold never hurt anybody. Any. Body. Get it?

Anyway, that kind of corny is another thing.

And these people I was retreating with? The right kind of corny. Just wonderful. It was a collective of sistrins with one and two bredrens who were focused and centred. It was a safe space. I sat up late chatting with people about their life stories, forging a rich, deep connection grounded in shared experience.

It was authenticity to the point of unashamed vulnerability. I liked it. They were the kind of corny that spoke of feeling like they were losing something whenever they left the verdant richness of country to return to the hustle and bustle of Kingston. They were the kind of corny that could declare, "I need a lot of nature in my life."

I loved it. And they weren't just being emos the whole time. They were productive. They got stuff done. They made plans. They cast vision. They charted a future for an organisation ...

It was a beautiful casting off of the old, and an embracing of the new. And when I think of it, losing my scarf becomes symbolic. Why not let go? Why not let go of the inhibitions and embrace a new experience? Why not let go of cautious fear, and invest more of myself into a truly worthy cause?

Why not jump in, feet first, eyes closed, and immerse myself in the experience? Why not? Ase.