Farewell, Seya

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Jamaica's arts community, rocked by the deaths of several stalwarts in recent years, got another blow last Friday with the passing of painter Samila Joseph Parboosingh, popularly known as Seya.

Parboosingh's health had deteriorated over the last three years. She had a heart ailment and suffered two strokes recently, her niece Jo-Anne Arnick told The Gleaner.

She was 85 years old.

Seya Parboosingh was the widow of painter Karl Par-boosingh, who died in 1975. The last of five children born in Pennsylvania in 1925 to Lebanese parents, Seya had lived in Jamaica since the late 1950s when she and Parboosingh married.

One of Seya's last public appearances was at a recent exhibit of her work at the Island Art Gallery. In June, she attended an exhibit of her husband's sketches at the Bolivar Gallery in St Andrew.

Gilou Bauer, curator at the Mutual Gallery in St Andrew, reflected on Parboosingh's work in an interview with The Gleaner.

"She was quite intuitive but not in the Jamaican sense. A number of Seya's paintings were very personal, dealt a lot with her family," Bauer said.

Parboosingh studied creative writing at the University of Iowa, but Arnick said she developed a love for 'way out' art through unconventional painters like Frenchman édouard Manet.

Arnick, who lives in New York, described her aunt as "a philosopher with a deep love for people. She loved to know what made them tick".

Over the years, Parboosingh held many exhibitions in Jamaica, the United States and England, but had cut back on her schedule recently due to her failing health.

"She was still working into her 80s but, after she broke her hip, that slowed her down a lot," Arnick said.

Austria-born Rosina Moder, a lecturer at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, was a close friend of Seya's for 20 years. She remembered her as the life of the party.

"She loved going to movies and cocktail parties. Seya was open about going out and enjoying art in all forms," Moder said.

Seya Parboosingh was pre-deceased by her siblings. She is survived by Arnick and several nephews who also live in the United States.

A service to celebrate her life is scheduled for tomorrow at the University Chapel, University of the West Indies, Mona campus, starting at 3 p.m.