green x gold

I’ve been building a habit lately: framing small, beautiful things that don’t always call attention to themselves.

One of those things hangs in my living room now. It’s the program from the Kingston Biennial 2024: Green X Gold at the National Gallery of Jamaica. I was there last December, with my cousin, who’s an artist. We spent the afternoon moving through gallery rooms, surrounded by sculpture, photography, paintings, and people. Artists from across the Caribbean and diaspora had gathered for the opening. It felt like a celebration of shared roots and wide-reaching imagination.

That day, I met Ashley James, the curator behind the exhibit. I had followed her work for years. We talked about what it means to bring a creative vision to life. About being young, and walking into rooms where people don’t expect you to lead. Her presence was steady, s the kind and self-assured. The kind of energy that doesn’t need to announce itself.

Back home, I framed the program. Hung it on the wall above a lucite console, where a single stem of lilies leans softly in a slim vase—pink, not yet opened. Below it, a vintage bench. None of it is particularly loud, but it holds a kind of beauty that stays with me.

We often talk about art as something expensive or elevated. But sometimes, it’s one day in Kingston. One conversation. One print on the wall that reminds you where you’ve been, the quiet conservations you’ve had.

-L