Feea

Feea, Daughter of Zion, is an artist living and working in Kingston. Her works 'From the Rock' and 'Untitled' are currently on view in the exhibition Intuitives III at the National Gallery of Jamaica. Here she discusses his work with Dr. Jonathan Greenland, executive director of the National Gallery of Jamaica.

Can you tell us about your work From the Rock?

What I do is I don't think about what I am drawing. Whatever I get, that is what it is. I have been doing this in London, America, South Africa, also here in Jamaica. My work is based on spirituality rather than intuitiveness, I'd say. Because the intuitiveness, as I have seen it in a lot of other artists, is different: I feel they are thinking about what they are doing. But I don't think what I am doing. I just basically take a blank piece of paper, turn it upside down most of the time and when it is finished I see what is on it.

Where did you get the idea to draw upside down?

I don't have these ideas - I just draw. I can draw them upside down, or turn the page to the side and they come out the same! I never erase anything. I use pen, charcoal, pencil, pen and ink. I use almost anything that can mark. On top of that there are many other things that I do, because I represent the awakening of the people and the totality of mankind.

What do you mean by this?

I was living in London at the time that I got this gift, as some people would call it. It was in 1973 I started having what people would call 'visions'. I came back to Jamaica in 1974. In 1976, I started drawing but I kept drawing them and throwing them away ... until finally someone came and said: "You shouldn't throw them away, you should put them down!" I am not religious and I am not political in the sense that I don't take an opinion on other people's business. But my work is basically to awaken my people, because, as you know for the past hundreds and thousands of years we have been in a lot of confusion. I receive that spirituality that connects us back to our original nature and in doing so I also speak the languages of our ancestors. So it is hard to take one part of my work and separate it from the other parts.

What are these languages?

Languages started a long time ago before we came to speak as we do now. We, as a people, had many different languages, but there is still an original language that we spoke. I believe that I am blessed with languages in order to inform our people that most of our spirituality has not left us. The language is in our minds: I went to Africa but nobody taught me these languages that I speak.

Is your art work the same language of the ancestors?

Yes.

In your work From the Rock a lot of the faces seem to be women?

Yes, a lot of them are women. What is difficult is that the hair of the head never used to be cut and so it can be difficult to tell males from females. I believe they are portraits of my ancestors and now they are becoming even clearer than before because if you look at the art I have been doing in America, for instance, you can see individuals. There are not so many groups. In fact, I am drawing right now as I speak to you and it is one person on the paper with a beautiful headdress. Probably by the time I have finished you might see another face on it, but not necessarily. If you sit and analyse what I am doing it is not coming from me, because if it was I would have to think about what I am drawing and how the people are placed. It is more like a photograph. Somewhere or sometime in our world these people existed.

It looks to me as if they are all emerging from a dense pattern?

I think of it as if the picture is there already and I am just filling in the spaces. Like a photograph, the picture is there and I am just bringing it all out. I also sing, and if I go in the studio I don't have to know the songs that I am going to sing. It sounds magical but it is fact!

What is your greatest moment of artistic achievement?

My greatest moment is to look at each piece as I do them. To me, what I would like to see, more than anything else, is that this work is properly documented so that if other children should come with the same abilities people will not scoff at them to believe this is foolishness. There are things that human beings do not understand at this point. And science cannot really explain it all. My greatest moment will be when I see my people being able to relate to that of our past, and no longer stop at slavery but go beyond when our greatness was on planet earth.

Do you ever choose themes?

Sometimes you can see how each piece follows another piece. Some of them might have a theme such as: "Look, I am watching you", "Forever I Be", "God Is" or "The Everlasting Power." Things like that. But it's not all the time that I have words to put to work.

Given your approach, is it possible for you to choose your best works?

It is hard for me to say any piece is the best. Because I receive with obedience and graciousness and I do not believe I should decide if this is my best piece or my worst piece. My work is based upon gratefulness, I am grateful for whatever I get.

Where do you see your work in five years?

I have had exhibitions in Florida, but I would love to see a larger exhibition of my work in my homeland Jamaica. Whether you use the religious words such as God, Jah, Jehovah, etc. I would like my work to be seen as a representation of a truth that all human beings need to understand: We are not alone. And this creative force in me is to help bring out the best in all human beings.

There seem to be a lot more male intuitive artists than female, why do you think that is?

There are many more women artists but a lot of people are afraid and sometimes even a little ashamed of that which is ours. So it is difficult for most females to come up because we have been told that women have not contributed in a lot of senses, particularly in the spirituality of humanity. And from Adam and Eve to all the things we have been taught, we shy away from these things because we do not believe we have the power to do these things.

Intuitives III is on view at the National Gallery of Jamaica through November 4. Original works by Intuitive artists are available at the National Gallery Shop. Please call for more details at 922-1561 or email us at natgalja@cwjamaica.com.