by Alim Hosein
The National Gallery of Art, in collaboration with the University of Guyana, the Guyana National Museum and the St Joseph Mercy Hospital will mount a special exhibition in celebration of Guyana’s 50th Anniversary of Independence. The exhibition opens on May 11 at 5 pm.
The exhibition’s name ‘From Colony to Nation,’ speaks to the country’s journey over the past fifty years. But the exhibition goes beyond 1966 to include examples of colonial and even pre-colonial art in Guyana.
The exhibition features paintings, drawings, lithographs and sculpture, even though it is recognised that there are other forms that could be classified as art work from the period, and even from the time of arrival of the indigenous peoples. However, such works will be the subject of a future exhibition.
Guyana became a colony of Great Britain in 1814, after over a century of occupation by the English, French and mainly, the Dutch who had established permanent settlements in Pomeroon and Essequibo from the turn of the 17th century. The counties of Essequibo, Berbice and Demerara were separate territories until Essequibo and Demerara were administered jointly from 1814,
