Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
Philip Henry, his wife, Monica (third left), daughters, Asha (second left) and Monifa are all smiles for the camera.

Avia Collinder, Outlook Writer

Artist, Philip 'Ambokele' Henry says that his marriage to Marcia, was a match made in heaven. The pair met at art school and now have been married for 26 years, raising a family of four girls, all of whom display a growing love of art.

Philip and Marcia established Art Gallery Ambokele which is located in Port Antonio, Portland. His works are collected at the corporate and private level throughout Jamaica, the United States and Europe.

While Marcia paints and sculpts (she is now doing a whole series of calabash carvings) Philip works mainly in pencils and inks to capture the culture of Jamaica mixed with aspects of his African ancestry. "Marcia is a major source of inspiration and support," Philip says, despite his failure to give her the son she has always craved.

"She wanted a boy, but I just did not have the formula."

But, the girls have been enough of a handful for the artistic couple.

Newborns

Marcia was a year after Philip in art school. The family was started soon after they both graduated and Afiya, Monifa, Asha and Nailah were born. While their children have educated themselves in different fields, they have all displayed an artistic talent inherited from their parents.

"They have an in-house competition as to who is the better draughts person. But, they all can draw better than I did," their father gloats. Afiya recently graduated from, Wesleyan College, in the United States with a degree in psychology and is now back home. Already, she has started drawing and painting.

"We have been doing our fair share of tutoring them. Nailah is still in high school, but she says she wants to go to art school," her father states.

Family structure

Mr. Henry believes in family, noting that in Jamaica the family structure is too fragmented. He also believes in the peculiar beauty of black people and this belief is frequently expressed in his work. Henry explains, " I have been trying to ensure that our (Jamaican) images are reflected in our art. In much of local art we are represented as working. We can be represented in art just for our beauty. Pictures are worth a thousand words. The image is indelibly burnt in the mind.

"We need to convey to youngsters a new idea of what beauty represents. Art, unfortunately, has been used over the years to create a feeling of inferiority as to how we look."

Philip also loves to paint landscapes including images of old style wooden houses with lattice work and cornices.

"Unless we catch such images," he notes, "there will be no memory of it."

Another very popular piece is a self-portrait of himself superimposed beside the desiderata - a piece which he says has fascinated him for years. "I like to do drawings enhanced by thought," he also explains.

Commissions

A master portraitist, Henry is said to have over 2,000 commissions to his credit. He has command of a variety of media, which include oil and acrylic on canvas, pastels and graphite. His published works are extensive with over 250 designs consisting of cards, notelets and posters.

Born on May 29, 1958, the 49-year-old Rastafarian artist is the son of Selma Henry, a primary school teacher, and Gideon Earle Henry, a minister in the first Holiness Church of the Apostolic Faith, in Portland.

He was sent to school at Port Antonio Primary and Titchfield High School, and it was a keen interest and extraordinary talent in art which led him to art school. His parents, he says, were wary of his choice, but he would not be denied.

At the Jamaica School of Art he specialised in graphic design and obtained a diploma in graphic design. He also studied photography, illustration, typography, screen printing, painting and sculpting. He graduated in 1981 and worked in advertising for approximately four years. In 1984, Ambokele (a name self-acquired and which means God's redemption, in Swahili) he formed his own graphic design company, focusing on screen printing and the manufacturing of novelties (T-shirts, tote bags, potholders, etc.) bearing his designs, for the local and tourist markets.

Exhibitions

Several exhibitions at the National Gallery of Jamaica brought a favourable response to his paintings. His first solo exhibition was hosted by Dr. Aggrey Irons at The Jamaica Pegasus in 1981, and later he did more than one dozen others, including with well-known artists such as Christopher Gonzales, Alexander Cooper, Burnett Anderson and his wife. Currently, Mr. Henry is to be found a lot on the north coast where his abilities as a portraitist is very popular with visiting guests at hotels.

"Portraits have become my speciality," he explains.

He has also been working to make art affordable to all Jamaicans by doing reproductions on cards and other less-expensive media.

He explains, "Art has always been perceived as a kind of novelty and something for the affluent, a luxury. To some degree it might be so, but there is a functional aspect."

His children he says are deeply involved in building the business side of his efforts.

"I feel very passionate about the idea of children coming to recognise what it is we do. And how it is they can continue by organising the business of art."

He has used his talents to raise and educate his girls, but has not lost sight of the passion which forces him to put brush to palette.

As one reviewer describes it, Philip Henry "is driven by an unrelenting passion to create and present art in a diversity of media - art that captures those precious moments of our lives and represents our ancestors, in an affordable and dignified manner.

In his work, images of Jamaicans - past and present - are everywhere.

The artist explains, "If people are not in the picture, it's really not worth it."