ON JULY 17, The Gleaner published a story headlined, ‘Jamaica-born artist Garfield Morgan making lasting impressions in Canada’. In it we look at how Morgan has been making a name for himself through his art in that North American country, especially in the Edmonton, Alberta region where he resides. He had migrated in 2018.
“Among other accomplishments, he was featured as the Artist of the Month for June 2022 on the Artists … In July of 2023, Morgan’s work, titled Consumer Bird, which was exhibited at the Beijing Biennale in China in 2010, was included in the international Climate Art Collection … As one of his latest artistic achievements, Morgan’s artworks are on display at the Don Wheaton Family YMCA at 10211 102 Avenue, N W Edmonton, and will continue to be until October 31. That exhibition, ‘What Lies Beneath’, was also a part of The Works Art and Design Festival, which is the largest open-air free festival in North America,” The Gleaner says.
Morgan is definitely on a roll, and now his installation, ‘Blood Cloth’, is being featured on the cover of the September-October 2024 edition of Preview magazine, a guide to galleries and museums in the Alberta/British Columbia region of Canada and the Washington/Oregon states of the USA.
“The inspiration for ‘Blood Cloth’ comes from my desire to use everyday material (in this instance, second-hand clothes) to critique global issues like consumerism, exploitation, inequality, and environmental degradation. It is partly a memorial to the victims of the Rana Plaza Disaster which occurred in Bangladesh in April 2013, the worst tragedy in history involving garment workers,” he shared, “The work aims to recontextualise and elevate mundane materials, transforming everyday clothing into powerful artistic expressions that address critical global issues.
It was created during Morgan’s one-year Artist-In-Residence at Harcourt House Artist Run Centre in Edmonton, Canada, and will be part of his culminating solo exhibition titled ‘Cloth & Conscience: Transforming Clothes into Voices of Change’, opening October 18, and will be displayed until November 30 at Harcourt House Artist Run Centre. But, what exactly is the message emanating from this piece, the name of which is inspired by a popular Jamaican expletive.
He explained, “Blood Cloth explores themes of constraint and entanglement, mirroring the struggles experienced by countries in the Global South in their attempt to meet consumption demands of the Global North. It also reflects the socio-economic disparities and rage that such issues provoke, while serving as a testament to human struggle and resilience in the face of consumerism’s social costs.
So far, Blood Cloth has received positive and thoughtful feedback, with viewers finding it both “visually compelling and emotionally provocative, resonating deeply with its underlying messages”, Morgan said. He is a full-time visual artist who had completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting at the Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, where he was awarded the postgraduate fellowship in the School of Art.