Voicing Jamaica's past to serve the future

As a sociologist, writer and cultural heritage specialist, Margaret Bernal masterfully combines her skills as a poet and a curator in her new book, Island Reliquaries - Voices from a Jamaican Past.

Released in March, the book harnesses her curator's role of developing a dialogue between Jamaica's past and its present. She does this by sharing her personal impressions of some striking visual treasures through her poetry. Island Reliquaries, the first in a series, is published with sponsorship by Jamaica National Building Society, and was officially launched on June 20, during Caribbean Heritage Month celebrations in Washington, DC, in the United States.

"I want to increase self-knowledge among our people," said the BBC Caribbean Poetry prize winner in an interview. "This book was written as a reminder that we have been given a country which is unparalleled in its cultural heritage."

Released in a limited edition, the book is illustrated with photographs of objects with powerful cultural resonance, captured on locations around the island. Whether looking at a saddle, a tray, or lamp, she penetrates the meaning of these objects in Jamaica's landscape.

"I have been conducting oral history interviews over the last 30 years," she said. "I talked to people about the things which are meaningful to them in their lives and I researched the meanings."

One object which she explores in the book is a saddle from a family in Boundbrook, in St Thomas. On visiting Boundbrook, she found a place which was, "lost in time, and had regressed from the period when it had been a busy banana wharf." The saddle also represented a period where Jamaica was a land of enormous social distances. The resulting poem, she said, "aimed to evoke the spirit of that time and place."

According to general manager of JNBS, Earl Jarrett, "Bernal has created a quality product of international standard and we are delighted to lend our support."

Bernal notes that the country is so suffused with poetry and art that there are talented persons who are producing creative works, but do not recognise themselves as being poets or artists. Putting together her own artistic expression through the current book took 30 years to accomplish, she revealed. "It is something I worked on every day, and every writer has a process and that is my process."

Proceeds from the sale of the book will go towards funding Arts Jamaica, a project aimed at building job skills and fostering greater knowledge of Jamaican's cultural history among the young people.