Charlotte C Mortensson
Whizzy, Marcus Garvey, Bob (series: Rastafari, Trench Town), 2025
Archival quality photographic print
Unframed: 48 x 65 cm
Framed: 63 x 70 x 10 cm
Framed: 63 x 70 x 10 cm
Edition of 6
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This work is priced unframed. Please enquire for framing options. Changing Ideas Award Rastafari emerged in Jamaica in the 1930s as a reaction to British colonialism. It was met with...
This work is priced unframed. Please enquire for framing options.
Changing Ideas Award
Rastafari emerged in Jamaica in the 1930s as a reaction to British colonialism. It was met with persecution from the outset. Jamaicans had been instructed that blackness was inferior, Rastafari taught the opposite. Many of the ideas came from Marcus Garvey and were responded to by the authorities with criminalisation. It wasn’t just state violence; it was cultural and widespread. The evangelical church, the middle class, the media, all participated. I have met individuals thrown out by their families for ’turning Rasta’. It is a demonstration of how colonialism teaches people to distrust their most self-affirming leaders.
The 1963 Coral Gardens incident was one of the most horrific episodes. Sir Alexander Bustamante, Jamaica’s first PM after Independence, ordered the police to ' bring in all Rastas, dead or alive’. Rasta men were hunted, their locks shorn off with broken bottles, and at least 150 murdered or disappeared.
In 2017, Prime Minister Andrew Holness apologised for the state-sanctioned violence. The official persecution has ceased, but micro aggressions continue. Rasta children's locks are frowned upon by many teachers - until recently, they were forcibly cut off. Rastas are not eligible for certain jobs.
My photograph of Wissy Wissy is part of an ongoing series about the large Rastafarian community in Trench Town. Wissy Wissy is a song writer and performer. The community's aim is to lead ‘righteous’ lives - to teach the young about Africa, to heal illness with traditional herbs, to eat ital food. African drumming is practised and there is the ritual use of cannabis, which is now legal. Some, but far from all are religious.
Today, there’s concern about the commodification and exploitation of their beliefs by businesses and by ‘pseudo' Rastas who sport the clothing and the locks and copy the language but not the way of life or social aims. - the artist
Changing Ideas Award
Rastafari emerged in Jamaica in the 1930s as a reaction to British colonialism. It was met with persecution from the outset. Jamaicans had been instructed that blackness was inferior, Rastafari taught the opposite. Many of the ideas came from Marcus Garvey and were responded to by the authorities with criminalisation. It wasn’t just state violence; it was cultural and widespread. The evangelical church, the middle class, the media, all participated. I have met individuals thrown out by their families for ’turning Rasta’. It is a demonstration of how colonialism teaches people to distrust their most self-affirming leaders.
The 1963 Coral Gardens incident was one of the most horrific episodes. Sir Alexander Bustamante, Jamaica’s first PM after Independence, ordered the police to ' bring in all Rastas, dead or alive’. Rasta men were hunted, their locks shorn off with broken bottles, and at least 150 murdered or disappeared.
In 2017, Prime Minister Andrew Holness apologised for the state-sanctioned violence. The official persecution has ceased, but micro aggressions continue. Rasta children's locks are frowned upon by many teachers - until recently, they were forcibly cut off. Rastas are not eligible for certain jobs.
My photograph of Wissy Wissy is part of an ongoing series about the large Rastafarian community in Trench Town. Wissy Wissy is a song writer and performer. The community's aim is to lead ‘righteous’ lives - to teach the young about Africa, to heal illness with traditional herbs, to eat ital food. African drumming is practised and there is the ritual use of cannabis, which is now legal. Some, but far from all are religious.
Today, there’s concern about the commodification and exploitation of their beliefs by businesses and by ‘pseudo' Rastas who sport the clothing and the locks and copy the language but not the way of life or social aims. - the artist
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