Montego Bay business leader pushes peers to offer walls for public murals

MONTEGO BAY, St James — A Montego Bay property director wants more local firms to lend prominent walls for public art after his company’s building received the latest mural in a Kingston Creative series.

Anthony Tavares, a director of Hilton and Hilton — which owns the premises occupied by Hilton’s Pharmacy and Henderson’s Bookstore — said he plans to rally other members of the business community to support similar projects citywide.

“I am trying to get other business owners around Montego Bay interested,” Tavares told the Jamaica Observer on Friday.

He intends to begin with acquaintances and then widen the appeal, asking companies to free up high-visibility exterior space so murals can improve how the city looks and give it added energy.

The artwork on the Hilton and Hilton property is the third mural in the Kingston Creative run. Doctor’s Cave Bathing Club backed the latest piece. Two earlier works, financed by the TUI Care Foundation, were revealed in February at the Scotiabank branch on St James Street and on St Clavers Avenue.

The new mural covers the left face of the Hilton Pharmacy building on St James Street and is designed to catch the eye of people arriving in that stretch of the city.

“I feel very positive about it because we need to uplift the conscience of Montegonian people, civic pride,” said Tavares.

Calling the piece impressive, he noted that Hilton and Hilton paid nothing for the mural and that the owners are ready to cooperate with partners so the work stays in strong shape.

“We’ll probably get in touch with Kingston Creative and have the artist come in and do some work,” Tavares said. He added that Kingston Creative asked to use the wall and the firm agreed without hesitation.

Andrea Dempster Chung, executive director of Kingston Creative, told the Observer the Hilton Pharmacy mural is the third in the sequence, with another planned soon, and that the organisation intends to keep collaborating with Montego Bay, Mayor Richard Vernon, and sponsors including the TUI Care Foundation and Doctor’s Cave Bathing Club.

She would not detail the next Montego Bay project but said the mural drive sits within a broader push to deepen the city’s cultural and creative base.

“It’s important also for cultural tourism because it helps us to diversify that product from sun, sea, and sand and give tourists a reason to come further into the cities and the towns and really explore the real Jamaica and touch base with the real people, the vendors on the street, etc,” she said.

Dempster Chung said the eventual aim is for the murals to draw visitors in their own right, echoing an approach already working in Kingston.

The Hilton Pharmacy mural depicts a woodcarver at his craft, a nod to makers who keep Jamaica’s artisan heritage alive.

“The intention is to have a self-guided tour where people can walk around the centre from murals one, two, three, four, five, six, stop at the vendors, buy coconut water, buy some things at the craft market, and work their way back around the course to the Montego Bay Cultural Centre, which is where we have our National Gallery West and our National Museum West,” said Dempster Chung.

She said the municipal corporation will be charged with looking after the murals.

“These murals are gifts to the city, every municipality has to look after the assets whether they put the assets in place or whether they were gifted the assets.

“We fully respect that the city of Montego Bay will realise that this is their asset and they will work to take care of it just as if they were given a bench, just as if they were given a park,” Dempster Chung added.

Mayor Vernon said the St James Municipal Corporation will schedule routine cleaning and carry out repairs when required so the murals stay in good order.

“However, I’m urging our community to help care for them. This way the murals will stay bright, visible, and welcoming for residents and visitors, and remain a proud part of the city’s transformation,” Vernon added.

He linked the works to the corporation’s MoBay STEP-UP urban renewal programme, delivered with Kingston Creative, which seeks to inject colour into the city while highlighting local culture and creativity.

Anthony Smith, known as Taoszen, painted the newest mural with help from artist Joel Cameron. The image presents a woodcarver at work as a symbol of craftspeople sustaining Jamaica’s artisan tradition. Taoszen has also produced murals at S Hotel and several works along the Reggae Wall of Fame at the Catherine Hall Entertainment Centre. He said the Hilton Pharmacy piece took eight days.

“When I am focused on the work, when I lock in and Joel Cameron is here and assisting me — and he wasn’t in the way, he’s there providing me with whatever assistance I need — that helped me,” Taoszen added.