Sometimes a photographic artist captures a place and the feel of a place so acutely, it’s as if you are in conversation.
This is how Dexter McClean’s ‘Tower Avenue’ made me feel when I visited his first exhibition at London’s Orlean’s Gallery. The black and white compositions are mainly of family and friends in Jamaica, where Dexter McClean lived and grew up until he was ten year’s old.
Shot in black and white, Dexter McClean’s photographs, taken in the Tower Avenue district of Kingston, speak of hardship and scarcity without a trace of sentimentality. His subjects look at you with the ‘so what?’ gaze unique to some Jamaicans who have very little apart from their vibrant being. It is this strong presence in the extreme absence of material things, that speaks so loudly in this arresting collection of images.
I particularly like the photo of young Gregory, who looks into the lens an assurance that belies his apparent disadvantage. He knows the power lies in his hands, his belly, his ram rod spine – we see his spirit and it is full of surety and hope.
Dexter McClean’s work bring a deeper layer of connection to the human soul and our ability to overcome adversity, when we consider Dexter McClean’s physical and emotional challenges of being a photographer with a disability: he has cerebral palsy. He employed the help of his friends and relatives to set up the shots and lighting whilst remaining in full directorial control. Knowing the effort and determination that exist behind the camera forces you to re-visit the power of work, and the force of Dexter McClean’s deeply affecting images.
Miss Cherry (not pictured) is the Jamaican matriarch many Jamaican diaspora recognise – warm, with steely undertones, she has seen it all – the whole of life has passed before her, she is steadfast in her loyalty and love to those who have travelled the road with her. The young women photographed, display a dazzling array of female archetypes – coquettish, vulnerable, strong, defiant.
Dexter McLean 2020. Copyright © and courtesy Dexter McLean
Dexter McClean is planning a return visit to Jamaica to do another shoot focusing on living as a disabled person, I can’t wait to see what these images will bring to the art world. A world in which people who live in poverty and or are disabled are marginalised or worse, not seen.
To enable Dexter McClean’s second Jamaican shoot, you can contribute to his Go Fund Me: https://mdxcrowdfund.com/p/JamaicanPhotographyProject/
© Suzy Rowland