DOWNTOWN Kingston’s Water Lane Art District has gained a striking new addition: A mural stretching more than 2,000 square feet across the intersection of Church Street and Water Lane. The artwork traces the journey of saltfish from the waters of Norway to its place at the heart of Jamaican culinary culture.

Created as part of ‘Salt fish & Soul: Celebrating Jamaica’s Culinary Culture’, a project by Kingston Creative in partnership with the Norwegian Seafood Council and the Norwegian Embassy to Jamaica, the mural brings Norway and Jamaica together through scenes of fishing, food and everyday life. Snow-covered mountains and coastal fishing villages give way to Jamaica’s vibrant landscape, ending at a Jamaican kitchen where a woman prepares salt fish surrounded by fresh ingredients.

Bringing that story to life is Jamaican visual artist Pamella Chen, whose journey has taken her from small childhood drawings to increasingly ambitious mural projects across the island.

For many young Jamaicans, a career in art is not always the first path encouraged or considered. The journey can be uncertain, and building a name for yourself requires talent, persistence and the willingness to create opportunities along the way. Chen has carved out her own path, taking on projects that have pushed her to work on an increasingly larger scale.

Her relationship with art, though, began long before it became a career. The first thing she ever drew was a mug, at three years old.

“I thought that it was a really cool mug and I was just really proud of it,” Chen recalled.

That small drawing became the earliest expression of a creative interest that would eventually lead her to the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. After completing her studies, Chen began taking on mural projects, first building her experience in Kingston and later working across the island.

There was no single moment when she suddenly arrived as a muralist. Instead, her growth has come through doing the work, learning from each project and continually testing what she could create.

Finding the story within the canvas

When Chen first saw the 2,000 square feet of wall that would become her canvas, her immediate reaction was simple: “Wow, that’s a really big wall.”

The project also introduced her to a side of saltfish she had never considered. Growing up in Jamaica, she knew it as a familiar part of home cooking, but had never thought about where it came from.

“I did not know that salt fish came from Norway. I always thought that it was just a Jamaican thing,” she said.

Learning about its origins gave Chen a new perspective on something deeply familiar. Her own memories of salt fish are rooted in family and home, particularly memories of her grandmother making salt fish fritters with onions.

Those memories helped shape how she approached the story. Rather than simply showing saltfish travelling from one country to another, Chen wanted to show how something from Norway became part of Jamaican food and culture.

“Through my art I decided to connect both cultures by showing from their seas to our table,” she explained.

Norway’s fishing heritage and cooler landscape shape one side of the mural, while Jamaica’s vibrant food culture, colour and energy define the other. The Norwegian side features mountains, coastal scenery and cooler tones, while the Jamaican side opens into a bright, colourful landscape centred around food and everyday life.

The mural was the largest surface Chen had ever worked on, making its scale both the biggest challenge and the most rewarding part of the project.

“The scale was definitely the most challenging part, but it was also what made the project so rewarding,” she said. “When it’s a blank wall, it just seems very intimidating, but the more you progress and the more you do it, it becomes easier and easier. You start to realise that you’re capable of taking on something this big.”

When the mural was finally complete, Chen was able to step back and see the entire work together.

Complete mural.

When the wall finally came together

After weeks of working through the mural section by section, Chen finally had the chance to step back and see the work as a whole.

“It was honestly a mixture of relief and excitement. When you’re working on something that large, you’re usually focused on one section at a time, so stepping back and seeing everything come together was a really special moment. I was just proud that I had actually brought the whole vision to life.”

Unlike work displayed inside a gallery, the mural is part of the everyday landscape of downtown Kingston. It sits at a busy intersection, where commuters, vendors, schoolchildren and passersby can encounter it simply by going about their day.

For Chen, that everyday encounter is part of what makes public art meaningful.

“I love that it’s something people can experience as part of their everyday lives,” she said. “It’s not just sitting inside a gallery. People will pass it every day, and hopefully it will make them stop, look and maybe even learn something about the story behind salt fish.”

The complete mural at Water Lane Art District.