Exhibition and Reception at King’s House to Celebrate Jamaica’s Independence

An exhibition and reception in celebration of Jamaica’s 60th anniversary of Independence will be held at King’s House on Wednesday, July 27.

The exhibition, under the theme ‘Birth of A Nation: Jamaica in 1962 Capturing the Spirit of Independence’, will be on display in the ballroom of King’s House, while the reception will be held on the lawns. The display will be mounted by the National Museum Jamaica, a division of the Institute of Jamaica.

Presented by Their Excellencies, Governor-General, the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen and Lady Allen, the event is part of activities to celebrate Jamaica’s diamond jubilee under the theme ‘Reigniting a Nation for Greatness’.

Keeper of the Collections, National Museum Jamaica, Kerry Ann Watson, told JIS News that the exhibition will capture the spirit of Independence.

“It will attempt to take you on a journey of Jamaica in 1962, capturing the pride, joy and optimism that Jamaicans and the rest of world had for the birth of this new nation,” she said.

She noted that the exhibits will consist of artefacts, storyboards, images and videos about the 1962 Independence celebrations.

Miss Watson said that an artefact, the Independence Urn, commissioned by Jamaica’s first Prime Minister, the Right Excellent Sir Alexander Bustamante in 1962, will be at the centre of the display.

The Independence Urn is one of the eight pieces created by Peter Cave and Gary Sharpe and presented to Princess Margaret when she visited Jamaica during the Independence celebrations in 1962.

She said that the Urn “is intricately designed with relief depictions of the history of Jamaica from 1494 to 1962”.

The Keeper of Collections said that other displays will include a tribute to Jamaican athletes, including Arthur Wint, who started Jamaica’s dominance in Track and Field, and a display of gifts to Jamaica from other countries.

Other displays will include a tribute to the country’s accomplishments in the immediate post-Independence era, between the 1960s and 1970s.