Histories

ARTS JAMAICA existed as a print journal representing a diversity of artistic voices, with texts written by over 60 researchers, curators, gallerists, art historians, art critics and artists themselves from Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. Spearheaded by Jamaican writer and sociologist Margaret Reckord Bernal, 10 issues of the magazine were published between 1982-86. 

The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) (operating from the University of Florida and Florida International University) hosts low-res digital scans of the magazines. Until now, you could not easily find any substantive information online and no website in existence dedicated to the seminal publication and regional arts movement. 

Near-dormant for almost twenty years, Arts Jamaica entered a new chapter in 2025 with British–Jamaican art historian and critic, Rianna Jade Parker joining as a Co-Managing Director with intention to use the entity as vehicle for new scholarship and cultural recovery. She has since established the Arts Jamaica Collection with a focus on archival research and new media.