On Thursday, February 24, 2022, the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ) will present an online Reggae Month event, entitled Charting Changes: A Reasoning about Narrative Styles and Directorship in Dancehall Music Videos of the 1980s and 1990s. The event will be a panel discussion, streamed live at 2:00pm, on the NGJ’s YouTube and Instagram Live channels. Charting Changes is being developed in association with the Jamaica Jamaica! exhibition, which is currently on view at the NGJ and will close to the public on February 28, 2021.
This discussion will be focused on music videos which related songs that articulated popular dance moves, advice, religious views, social criticism and expressions of admiration and sexual prowess. Moderated by Dr. Sonjah Stanley-Niaah, former Director at the Institute of Caribbean Studies UWI Mona, the panellists will be: video director and producer Llewellyn “Leo” O’Reggio, film director Ras Kassa, as well as video editor and director Garth Daley.
The Jamaica Jamaica! exhibition was originally launched in France, at the Philharmonie de Paris in 2017. After it closed in Paris, it was shown in São Paulo at the SESC in 2018 and then relaunched in Kingston Jamaica at the NGJ in February of 2020. Its run was interrupted after being on view for only six (6) weeks, when the NGJ was directed to close temporarily due to the COVID – 19 pandemic and the show later re-opened on 5th of October 2021. Memorabilia of the exhibition are still available for sale at the NGJ Gift Shop, including copies of its catalogue publication.
For further information on the Charting Changes online panel discussion, the Jamaica Jamaica! exhibition or any programming at the National Gallery of Jamaica, please call the Gallery at (876)922-1561 or (876)922-1563. Emails should be sent to info@natgalja.org.jm . Also remember to subscribe to the National Gallery of Jamaica’s social media platforms on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
