How black was Deacon Bogle?

Barbara Gloudon

Friday, March 19, 2010

ONCE AGAIN, a Jamaican work of art has been placed on trial and found wanting by a group of persons who have condemned it and are preparing to sentence it to oblivion.

While our eyes have been turned elsewhere, a gathering of persons in Morant Bay, the St Thomas capital, assembled last Saturday to "bun fiyah" gainst the statue of National Hero Paul Bogle who the nation chose to honour for his contribution to Jamaica's liberation history.

The statue was commissioned by the government of the 1960s. The sculptor was Edna Manley, noted not just as a member of the nation's most famous political family, but as an artist of international reputation. She chose to salute Bogle's spirit in his two roles - the Baptist preacher-activist and the peasant who would have wielded a machete not only as an agricultural tool but also as a means of defence in times of war.

She produced a work of a black man, in militant stance, holding the machete, standing resolutely, his total posture forming the cross of Christianity which he served. The statue was raised in front of the Morant Bay Courthouse, scene of the infamous trial which came in the wake of what our history has always designated as the Morant Bay Rebellion. Even from the beginning, the statue attracted the disfavour of some persons.

The main objections: a) it too black... b) lips too thick... c) nose too broad...

d) It nuh look like him. This came from persons who could never have seen the real Deacon Bogle. His life was taken from him in that fateful year of 1865. There have been claims made in recent times that there is a picture of him "somewhere". There is no record of any of the peasantry of Stony Gut having such a valued treasure. A drawing said to be in the Institute of Jamaica would be just that - an artist's impression.

The controversy about blackness was a curious one, considering that the statue came on the scene at a time when black consciousness was on the ascendancy. However, persons actually went to Morant Bay to see the statue and to try chipping off the black colouring in the ciment fondu, a new medium which Edna Manley used to fashion the work.

In time, the blackness debate subsided and the Bogle statue became part of the landscape in front of the Morant Bay Courthouse and together, statue and building formed a heritage site in the St Thomas parish capital. But now - with so many other things to worry about, with so much facing the nation - a Morant Bay Rebellion of another kind is being mounted.

Little has been said about the courthouse which was severely damaged by fire in 2007. Last year, the statue was gouged by a man said to be of unsound mind. It has since been restored and was set to be returned to Morant Bay while a group of citizens of the parish decided to consider how to restore and revive this aspect of their heritage. The fate of the courthouse has not been settled but the statue has fallen out of favour. Why? "It don't look like him"... Here we go again.

THIS TIME the statue has been weighed in the balance and found wanting because (A) He shouldn't have his back turned to the courthouse - that is disrespect. (B) The machete (interpreted as a sword). The top is up in his throat signifying the cutting off of his speech, the tip of the sword (machete) points to his scrotum, cutting off all the regenerative capabilities. In martial arts that signifies surrender... and Bogle never surrendered, said a spokesperson.

The real argument, however, seems to be the old cry, "It don't look like him." No one has come forward yet to prove for sure what he looked like, but of one thing the objectors are sure it is not Mr Bogle and they can prove it. How? They're incensed that a man in Stony Gut was the model used by Mrs Manley. Apparently, this makes the statue a deception because people were under the impression that it was a depiction of a real-real Missa Bogle. So, the protestors have enlisted the support of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation to petition the prime minister and the minister of culture to have the statue removed, nearly four decades after it has been a fixture in the public square in St Thomas.

Sadly, it appears that the Jamaica National Heritage Trust seems prepared for surrender and retreat. It is being said that the statue would most likely be removed to storage in the National Gallery, just as was done when the first Bob Marley statue was bound with ropes and dragged ingloriously from its stand at Independence Park (opposite the National Arena). It was exiled to spend years gathering dust at the gallery because "it never look like Bob".

Persons were openly hostile to the concept of the artist Christopher Gonzalez who chose to depict Bob as a biblical figure, a tree planted by the waterside, his locks as roots going down into the earth. People didn't get the message so a realistic (but quite boring) replacement was installed.

Our public artistic taste leans heavily towards literal depictions in statuary, resulting in debilitating controversies about what such and such "look like". Nobody wants to hear about "artistic interpretation". If it nuh look like him, forget it. We're still fighting over the Emancipation Park duo.

IN THE CURRENT state of economic debilitation in which St Thomas finds itself, one would assume that there are far more pressing and compelling subjects for consideration than whether the statue was of Mr Bogle fi true. Meanwhile, the courthouse still lies in burnt-out ruins. The talk of a tourism product for St Thomas continues just that - talk. We will have to assume that when the statue is safely put away in the storeroom of the Gallery, then the sensitive eyes of the concerned citizens of Morant Bay can turn to look for signs as to what Mr Bogle's legacy really means.

Surely he did not walk all the way to Spanish Town to tek on Governor Eyre, to return to Morant Bay to lose his life for his belief in the God-given right to freedom and dignity - and now for his legacy to become the subject of futility and confused logic. Bogle's statue will go - but does St Thomas know where it is heading?

bgloudon@yahoo.com

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COMMENTS (6)

Janette McLean
3/23/2010

Since this article, Paul Bogle's grandson widow has surfaced and said he was used as the model as Mrs. Manley sought out a true likeness.
I really and truly believe that St. Thomas has more pressing issues to attend to than whether or not the statue is Paul Bogle, 1st up.....illiteracy.

anguish of being
3/21/2010

Why dont you just come out and say it Miss Gloudon? That Edna Manley was the white goddess of Jamaican art and how dare the black masses object to her work!

Verna Kitson
3/20/2010

I read this column in the context of a recent statement by Maxine Henry-Wilson. On the matter of the visual representation of another national hero, Nanny, Henry-Wilson declared that it was not important to inform children that the image of Nanny found on the $500 bill was not a direct representation of the person. They did not need to be told that the image is the rendition of an artist, and that it's not the likeness that matters, but what the figure represents that is most important. No, don't tell people what statues are - and are not - about; instead, feed the ignorance that statues must "look like" the person, and then call people ignorant when they say this. So, those children will turn into adults who articulate the same views as the ones we've been hearing over and over. When the easy choice is to withhold information and mislead people, as is often done in the name of telling people what they "need" to know, we get these kinds of silly debates that are just plain embarrassing. When we begin to encourage individuals to interact with ideas, to value creativity and to see the inherent value of creating their own interpretations then things will start to change. When our schools and institutions abandon the doctrinaire and didactic approaches we seem to have grown accustomed to, then we will be able to talk about more important issues such as whether a statue is the best way to represent the work of Paul Bogle, not about the likeness of the statue. Being stuck in literal mode is not a given; but it takes work to become unstuck.

tina chambers
3/20/2010

honestly , i remember when i went to college there was a young lady there wth the last name Bogle..i went to ST.Thomas and saw the statue and it looked just like her wth the same big lips and she had low cut hair...i remember telling my mom about her and wondering if they were related, my mom sd to ask her but i did not because she was not like, a part of our group ......

Izett Gordon
3/19/2010

An interesting article indeed. I, not being a sculptor, will 'put pen to paper' in the 'not too distant' future to enlighten all and sundry. Bravo Mrs. Gloudon and thanks to Joseph for reminding us about those two masterpieces.

Joseph Manley
3/19/2010

Regarding the issue of artistic interpretation and intent versus literal likeness to Bogle, there are two sources of documentation available that clearly show the process by which Edna Manley came to the final design of the piece. "Edna Manley The Diaries", edited by Rachel Manley, pages 67-71 and also "Edna Manley - Sculptor" by David Boxer pages 41-42. Issues of copyright prevent me quoting directly from either work, but for the curious, the answer is available.

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How black was Deacon Bogle?