I recently wrote (on another blog site, dailyveritas.com) about the disturbing actions of police officers (however good their intentions) in painting out/obliterating the vibrant street art that we see, especially in inner-city communities. I view this as censorship and do not see any value in destroying the work of these community artists (many very skilled) in the name of crime prevention. It will be quite ineffective, anyway, I suspect. Interestingly, the National Gallery of Jamaica just opened an exhibition of street art. Here are comments by the National Gallery’s Chief CuratorCharles Campbell.
Anthony Brown – Kimarley (Hannah Town), photo: Kara Springer
The following is the curatorial introduction by NGJ Chief Curator Charles Campbell, which was presented at the opening of the Anything with Nothing exhibition on May 25:
I hope that the exhibition largely speaks for itself but I will share a few thoughts about the process of putting the show together and the issues it raises.
My interest in Jamaican street art began when I was here in the 90’s and volunteered as a photographer for Sharon Chako on one of the first efforts to research and document the phenomenon. But it is really the independent research of our assistant curator Monique Barnett-Davidson that the current exhibition is built on. Monique has spent time in the last three years documenting murals and meeting many of the artists and without her work it certainly would not have been possible to put this…
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Petchary's Blog 
Good morning, how are you?
My name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people’s diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Jamaica? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Jamaica in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog http://www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez
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Dear Emilio: Yes, I would be happy to help out. I am not sure how old you are, but when I was a teenager I used to collect stamps, too – I inherited my grandfather’s collection, in fact. I will send you a letter with stamps on it and might include a few inside, too. I took a look at your blog, it’s great! All the best, Emma
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