Constructing Paradise in the Western Imagination:

Reflections on Colonial Legacies and Developing Nations’ Tourist Industries

Authors

  • Oneika Russell

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18733/cpi29508

Abstract

Enhanced with a few of my original paintings, this essay explores various notions of a tropical paradise in the Western imagination. Secondly, it traces some of the implications for the respective people and country. The work draws on my personal experiences, research and study in several Western arts institutions as well as in former, European colonies in the tropics. At the discussion’s centre, are experiences and pursuits of Paul Gauguin, a noted seeker of paradise? The essay further explores how colonial perceptions and perspectives have influenced and continue to impact the socio-economic and cultural production of ‘tourism products’ in small island developing states (SIDS), such as Jamaica and some other countries in the Caribbean.

Author Biography

Oneika Russell

Oneika Russell received a Diploma in Painting from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Jamaica. She completed an MA in Interactive Media at Goldsmith College in London and postgraduate studies in Film, Video and Media Art at Kyoto Seika University in Japan. Residencies include: Post-Museum in Singapore, NLS in Kingston Jamaica, Vermont Studio Centre in Vermont, USA, and most recently Residency Unlimited in Brooklyn, USA. Major exhibitions include: Jamaican Pulse at The Royal West of England Academy, UK; the 2017 and 2019 National Gallery of Jamaica Biennial, Kingston; At the Crossroads: Critical Film and Video from the Caribbean at the Perez Museum of Art in Miami; the 2018 DAKAR Biennial, Senegal. 

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Published

2020-01-06

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 3 (2019): Caribbean Pelau

Section

Articles