The U.S. Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica moved to a new compound in 2006 and was designed by John Chapman of KCCT. FAPE commissioned Dorothea Rockburne to create a mural for the large central atrium. The work is visible throughout the building thanks to bridges connecting the general access and controlled office spaces on either side.
Dorothea Rockburne was commissioned by FAPE in 2006 to create a large-scale mural for the atrium. The work was created in honor of Colin Powell and his family, who came from Jamaica, and depicts the sky at the time of General Powell’s birth.
In 2009 Rockburne painted her mural at the Queens Museum of Art in New York, as it hung for several months in the atrium. In 2012 the work was hung temporarily at a studio in Queens so the artist could apply gold-leaf. The monumental painting was installed by the artist in Kingston in 2014.
“Making art, for me, has always involved a combination of thought, research, intuition and very hard work. In bringing a work of art to life, I don’t rely on words but rather on what I see in my mind’s eye. Working on this mural has not only exposed me to the wonders of Jamaican culture but it has also produced a work of art that captures the spirit of cross-cultural dialogue. While Folded Sky, Homage to Colin Powell pays tribute to one of America’s most distinguished diplomats, this is not just the night sky of one man’s birth. It is the same night sky we all share as humans of a collective earthly experience. ”
Dorothea Rockburne
Folded Sky, Homage to Colin Powell
2009
Acrylic and 23-karat gold leaf on canvas, 16 feet x 41 feet
In 2009 FAPE and the Queens Museum partnered with Studio in a School, the leading non-profit organization bringing visual arts education to low-income students in New York City public schools, to teach students about the role artists can play in advancing international relations. The students worked with an art instructor from Studio in a School, a team of curators, administrators, muralists and Rockburne herself for six weeks, creating outlines for their own artwork and illustrating how art can be used as a language for diplomacy. The students each chose a public space in a foreign country and then designed a site-specific work of art. The finished product, a portfolio of project proposals, was on view at the Queens Museum at a reception in honor of Rockburne’s mural. Click here for more information.
Right: Artist Dorothea Rockburne, FAPE Chairman Jo Carole Lauder, Alma Powell, Linda Powell and Mrs. Powell’s granddaughter
U.S. Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica
142 Old Hope Road, Kingston 6
Jamaica, West Indies
