Art is seemingly in Roshane Taylor’s blood. Such was Taylor’s passion for art at an early age, teachers would complain to his parents that all he does in class is draw.

Now, the Edna Manley College-trained visual artist is allowing the beauty that his mind conjures up to spill all over the walls of downtown Kingston— and other areas— with every mural he erects.

Taylor told OBSERVER ONLINE that he fell into this mural aspect of visual art accidentally, but it has been a great journey.

Here are six questions with muralist, Roshane Taylor:

1. When were you introduced to visual art?

I think I have been an artist all my life, because from as early as I can remember it is all I have always been doing. It is what my parents would get complaints for when I was in school— drawing in class. So I think I have been an artist all my life but professionally I think it really took off when I went to art school and I started to focus on it. I can proudly say nothing has ever drawn my attention away from art.

2. How long have you been a muralist?

Being a muralist I picked up around 2016 I think. I was with Paint Jamaica initially, it was the 41 Fleet Street project, the first mural outreach project in Jamaica of its size. The project started with an abandoned warehouse that a couple artists just converted and back then it became the hit location for music videos and tourist attraction until it just branched out onto the street.

3. Where else can we see your work?

After Fleet Street I was inspired by that project because my involvement in it was completely accidental. It was actually through a friend of mine who became a mentor that I got the opportunity. While I was on site of the project just looking at what was going on they had a free space and my friend said that if I wanted to tackle it, I could. I took on that space and then it just became ingrained in me. Inspired by that, in 2016 I did a proposal of a wider scale for a project of the same nature and sent it to the mayor and around 2020 right before COVID hit I heard back that they wanted to take it on. We are recreating a space called the Culture Key in downtown, Kingston and I am the lead architect. The aim of that space is to create a neutral ground that people can come, relax and make a day out of it with their families, similar to the Wynwood Art District in Miami. So a lot of my work is centred right there right now on Water Lane and Mark Lane. I have also worked in Montego Bay, Negril, all over.

4. Where does your inspiration come from?

It comes from everywhere; people I look up to, the culture, from what I see every day in the street but tying all of that together comes down to how I go about presenting it so that is why a specific style—no matter what I am working on— will always shine through because that is my personal way of painting.

5. Which do you prefer, small canvas painting or working on murals and why?

I feel like if I had to choose I would always take being on the street because it just feels more natural to me; the interaction with the people, the feedback, I take it in and it kind of helps me grow. In studio you are kind of isolated and you are by yourself so you have more freedom to practice, you can try more, there is more freedom to mess around, you can try new things, test theories and you can make it perfect before anybody sees it. I mean both of them play their own part in your development but I think I like being on the street more.

6. What are your goals?

My focus is on giving back at the moment. I went to St George’s College and I have been doing some work with the art department and I took the students on a field trip recently to give them a feel of what the space is like because I have them doing some murals on the school campus so I can mentor and helping them all in the same breath. So while I am sponsoring that, I have also been trying to work with some outreach programmes to provide safe spaces for children.