Michael Reckord, ContributorAS IT SHOULD, the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ) has been celebrating the island's 40th Independence anniversary. One form the celebration has taken is the mounting of an exhibition, simply titled '1962,' in one of the Institute's exhibition rooms.
Described on an IOJ flyer as 'an exhibition revisiting Jamaica as it sprang to life - its Memorabilia, Art and Expression', the display continues until October 31.
Mr. Wayne Modest, director of the Museums Division, whose division was responsible for the exhibition, said it is aimed at both children and adults. Very few of either were present when this reporter visited the exhibition last week.
It was not surprising however. To put it kindly, the exhibition is unexciting.
First of all, the room is dimly lit, which does nothing to enhance the washed out appearance most of the items have. The look is not surprising, of course, considering the original objects are all 40 years old.
However, the communicator must always bear his audience's preferences in mind and, in order to attract children accustomed to colour television and frenetic cartoons, museum pieces need some jazzing up. Few get such treatment.
Roughly half of the exhibits are behind glass - their message being, 'Look, but don't touch' - and much of their information comes to the viewer through his laborious reading. On a large board, for example, he reads about the beginning and end of the West Indian Federation, 1947 - 1962. (The period covers the attempts made before the formal Federation was established.) Children probably do not bother to read the essay.
Yet other exhibits, which should have words, do not. One such is a series of nicely mounted black and white photographs featuring Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon on their visit to Jamaica in 1962. Without captions, the pictures probably mean nothing to children.
I am not sure, either, how much reading children would do - through the glass - of old, faded, sometimes torn documents describing how our National Symbols, Anthem and Flag came about. These did not spring to life at all; there were competitions, and various entries were submitted and committees perused and selected.
Some of the rejected entries are on display, together with the winning entries. So we see a number of proposed National Anthems (entered in a competition initiated by Premier Norman Washington Manley), some flag designs which did not make it (that competition never came off), and we see the first National Flag - a small one - printed by the Jamaica Printing Plant in Spanish Town.
Among the colourful items is a range of crockery emblazoned with the Coat of Arms and the words 'Independence Celebrations, 6th August, 1962.' Beside them in the glass case is a bottle of Appleton Estate Special rum, created particularly for the Independence celebrations.
Nearby is the currency of the period -- five and one pound, and five and ten shilling notes, as well as pennies. (It would have been useful to see a comparison of the buying power of a penny with that of a dollar now.)
The exhibition includes a range of documents: minutes of Independence committee meetings, a special New York Times supplement on our Independence, with a congratulatory message from President John F. Kennedy; many programmes for functions held around the period - a Kings House banquet, a Roots and Rhythms dance concert directed by Eddy Thomas and Rex Nettleford, with music by Carlos Malcolm and Oswald Russell; and an Arts Celebration 150-strong choir performance conducted by James Verity.
Outside the glass cases and touchable are a number of effigies - of the Queen, N. W. Manley and Bustamante - and, perhaps most interesting for today's children, a television showing some of the events taking place on the first Independence Day.
For those who can remember the time, this exhibition should prove particularly interesting.
