Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
PARCHMENT
WESTERN BUREAU:
IT IS poetically appropriate that Michael Parchment's current exhibition at the Gallery Pegasus, Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, is entitled 'Intuition Speaks'.
His intuition spoke not only from the 28 canvases mounted for the June 8 launch but also from the two poems he read at the event, one of which was entitled Up Afrikaans Up: 'You were fashioned out of black clay into the similitude of your god, master and creator/ You are the first being to see the sunlight/And manifestation of the gods..."
Poetry and painting came as an inseparable pair to Michael Parchment in 1979 and, in theme and in practice, they have remained entwined ever since. The sentiments of Up Afrikaans Up are reflected in the pieces mounted in the Gallery Pegasus as Black people, from the Jesus figure and the angels in Angels Bow Down Before Him to the gleeful bicycle riders in Down To the Wire, dominate.
'RWIN TOWERS'
In fact, all the people looking up at the soon-to-be-struck buildings in 'Rwin Towers' are also Black.
"It was from the poetry to the art within a month," Parchment said. "I found myself being a black youth, living in the ghetto. The struggle was really intensified, in that it forced me to come up with something out of nothing.
But the real thing was finding god... The concept is about finding god, finding god first. It made all the difference," he said.
He has had six one-man exhibitions at various galleries previously which is very close to the number of books that he has published. Inner Thoughts and Feelings of the Poet came in 1983, followed by I Raged In Chain(1984), Serenade of Love (1986), My Freedom Voice (1987) and Negro Cross Over (1989).
The art was not to be separated from the books, as he did the illustrations, along with Keith Watkis.
And although he has not published any poetry in the last decade and a half, he has two books of short stories and poetry in hand.
He is looking to republish the poetry books, but not at the huge personal expense that he has already gone. "We need more business people to look into Jamaica on a creative aspect" he said.
He is not laid-back with his poetry, but approaches it from a non-competitive perspective. "I don't see whereas I should compete with by Black bredda by reading my poetry in a certain way. Poetry is a free-flowing thing, where people get together and read. Competition at times break down the love a man should a have inna him," Parchment said.
LOCKS
"In the poetry world, if you don't carry locks people no see yu a go do poetry in a certain way. "
The paintings, done in water-colour and paper, as well as oil and hardboard, address topics as varied as football ('Reggae Boyz') and persistence in the face of hardship (Triumph Over Poverty), but with pieces such as Man of Sorrow and others, there is a strong element of the spiritual.
Which is in keeping with Parchment's personal philosophy.
"I see God as a spiritual force. I don't see him as Buddha or Selassie, I see him as Jesus Christ, as the saviour who come for the world. God is an infinite force that one have to find in oneself."
"God work through the active imagination of the mind. A man can really elevate himself and come up with some great creative knowledge, just by using the mind," Parchment said.
