Press
Redemption Song
Redemption Song, 2003, bronze figures, cast iron dome, 10 & 11 ft. h. Monument at Emancipation Park, Kingston, Jamaica, W.I.
Excerpt from letter by Dr. David Boxer, Director Emeritus/Chief Curator, National Gallery of Jamaica
"…I see two human beings, two black human beings, one male, one female, standing in ‘the healing stream.' They are resplendent in their purity; their heads are raised heavenwards in prayer…yes, this is a prayer – the work is a silent hymn of communion with, and thanksgiving to, the almighty."
"Their nudity is part of their potency – it is part of the meaning of their emancipation; their rebirth into freedom. They stand there as a symbol of the naked truth of the argument of emancipation; the truth that we are all equal in the eyes of God…"
A Monument in the Public Sphere by Veerle Poupeye, Jamaica Journal Vol 28 Nos 2-3, December 2004, pages 36-48
Kingston’s newest park, the Emancipation Park in New Kingston, opened to the public on 31 July 2002, on the eve of Jamaica’s Emancipation Day national holiday, as part of the fortieth anniversary of Jamaican independence celebrations. The park was constructed as a special public service project of the National Housing Trust, which is headquartered nearby. Exactly one year later, on 31 July 2003, a monument to Emancipation was unveiled at the ceremonial entrance...
The Everything Doors
Exhibition, Institute of Jamaica, Kingston, October 2006
Excerpts from Opening remarks by Dr David Boxer, C.D. Director Emeritus/ Cheif Curator, National Gallery of Jamaica
Laura,
Congratulations once again on your recent award of the silver Musgrave Medal. I won’t repeat the facts of the citation which I read at that memorable wind-swept ceremony; rather I want to take this opportunity to salute you and that core of essential honesty and integrity which permeates everything you do. .. to salute you too for that constant search for meaning in life and in art, and for your unabashed espousal of deeply felt spiritual and religious values...
Liminal Spaces by Veerle Poupeye, Jamaica Journal Vol. 31Nos 1-2, June 2008, pages 72-79
Laura Facey’s exhibition The Everything Doors: Drawings in Wood, which opened at the Institute of Jamaica’s newly refurbished exhibition gallery in October 2006, was exceptional in every sense of the word.1 Facey’s exhibitions have always been thoughtfully conceived and presented, but this one made an unusually cohesive statement, conceptually and visually, as an exhibition that transcended the individual works presented in it and reflected her commitment to personal and communal healing, renewal and spiritual transcendence. It was a stunningly beautiful display...
Where I Stand
Exhibition, Mount Plenty, St. Ann, Jamaica, December 2008
Split a Piece of Wood by Annie Paul, The Sunday Observer, February 1st 2009, The Style Observer, pg 14-15
Where I Stand is the second body of work Laura Facey has delivered since 2006. While her October 2006 show The Everything Doors, at the Institute of Jamaica, was a tour de force of poetry carved from wood--a series of coherent, composed botanical meditations--her December 2008 show is more of a collection and display of recent work, mounted in her home, an idyllic cottage set in the cattle-studded fields of Mt. Plenty, St. Ann...
Solandra
Between Verdure and Restraint by Melinda Brown, Catalog, Jamaica Inn, Ocho Rios
Soon after arrival in Jamaica, the visitor, drenched in the green of the climbing vines, the hardwood trees, the cane and ground crops will begin to notice the sharpening of the ‘lass – an affectionate term for a large lethal knife, that slips and slices through the forest, cutting and hacking - a redefining of the profile - of the green – to the containable - that leaves the vegetation hastily trimmed, eliminating the mystery of concealment.
In a culture of virility, the fecund undergrowth of a socially conservative and highly segregated society, to pursue the light above the canopy of the forest is to risk elimination of the self from which one has sprouted.
Laura’s character expands towards the light - searching and questioning - a nugget of gold sheathed in a tough seed case. The botanical portraits, commenced quite tentatively three years ago, have exploded into the light infused, free floating, sap spilling Solandra – whose very proboscii – seem to be seeking a way out of the picture frame.
The seed case, which both protects and inhibits growth, is splitting – the artist, who on any given day, can be found directing traffic on her farm, running her atelier, hosting dinners, dealing with family issues all of which ties the artist to the mundane, has broken free from her moorings and is taking us on a journey with her - into the light.