Laura Facey Cooper’s installation 62 Men and 63 Women is up for sale.

The piece, an 18 x 12 foot installation featuring a stone wall, a cottonwood canoe, 125 resin

Redemption Song (the popular statue at Emancipation Park in Kingston) miniatures and an enlarged fabric copy of an 1820 inventory, is one of the fund-raising efforts for the Mt Plenty Farm To Table — A Fusion of Food, Art, and Goodwill slated for Sunday, November 6.

“We’re aiming for $3.8 million from the sale of this work, and we will donate every cent to Boys’ Town Infant and Primary School,” declared artist and sculptor Facey Cooper.

The sale begins and ends on November 6. “We’re encouraging a company or organisation to purchase and donate the piece to a school, institute, or gallery of their choice. The installation is a bit grand for a home,” Facey Cooper said. “It is, however, a powerful history lesson.”

The installation represents enslaved individuals who laboured on the Mount Plenty property in the parish of St Ann, Jamaica, as documented in 1820 at the time of the death of their owner, Hon John Hiatt, custos of St Ann.

“I live on the Mount Plenty property and have done so for 36 years. I walk the farm daily, past chains of stone walls built by the enslaved, and I can visit their burial grounds. When I was shown Custos John Hiatt’s inventory of his slaves, I was shocked that they were listed as ‘property’ and that some of them were valued for less than his animals. There were 125 slaves on the Mount Plenty farm and for me, the inventory brought the reality of slavery into sharp focus,” Facey Cooper said.

THE LOVE OF FOOD

Capitalising on the love of food and art, Mount Plenty Organics, in association with the CB Facey Foundation — the charitable arm of Pan-Jamaican Investment Trust Limited (Pan Jam) — hopes to raise $10,000,000 at this year’s event. Facey Cooper revealed that last year’s function raised $5.8 million.

Along with the donation from Facey Cooper, patrons will also be able to purchase works from textile artiste Miriam Hinds-Smith, quilt maestro Jessica Ogden, and paintings from siblings Cecil and Susan Ward.

Food-loving patrons will be treated to fresh, organic, vegan dishes from Stush In The Bush, refined rural fare from Hermosa Cove’s Chef Conroy Arnold, and world-class offerings from Moon Palace Jamaica Grande’s Executive Chef Dennis McIntosh.

Patrons will be able to enjoy, for their US$80 or $10,000 contribution, fresh vegetables and microgreens from the Mount Plenty Organics farm, fresh fruits, whole roasted pig, whole roasted cow, along with decadent desserts.

Interested parties are advised to contact Susanne Fredricks at fredrixauctions@gmail.com for information on the installation62 Men and 63 Women.

The CB Facey Foundation has been the charitable arm of Pan Jam for over 30 years. The foundation is helping to shape the society by investing in the arts, the environment, and education.

The main thrust at Boys’ Town Infant and Primary School, situated in the Trench Town community of St Andrew, is to transform the quality of education at the school, making Boys’ Town a model school by 2020. This project will be an example for public and private partnerships within the Jamaican education system.