No disrespect meant

Sculptor Raymond Watson upset that people are angry over his bust of Marcus Garvey

SOME PERSONS were stunned and angry when they saw the bust of National Hero Marcus Garvey unveiled in the courtyard of the Faculty of Humanities and Education on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies on Friday, May 19.

The tenor of the online and mass media feedback was very negative, brutal even. Some readers had absolutely no mercy on the university and the sculptor Raymond Watson, who were widely condemned in words ranging from the ‘ridiculous’, to ‘sarcastic’, to ‘threatening’.

The general opinion is that the bust looks nothing like Marcus Garvey, and, thus, does not represent him, his worth and work. In essence, Watson did not do justice to Garvey’s legacy, many people are saying, and they considered it a disrespect for, and dishonour to, the hero.

The Gleaner caught up with Watson exactly one week after his piece, done in bronze resin and stone powder, was revealed. He was at an exhibition where his 1997 piece called Gruimi Player, also done in bronze resin, and mounted on mahogany, was on display.

He was visibly perturbed by the bitter responses. In fact, he was aware of them from the moment they started. He was at the unveiling.

“Somebody has an opinion about any image, I can’t argue with what they see and don’t see,” he said.

But Watson could not fathom why people were upset, and he said he was upset that they were.

“I don’t understand how people get to that kind of conclusion, honest to God. I did a representation of Garvey that I saw in the photograph. I thought I have done justice, now with the feedback maybe I didn’t do justice. If I messed up, I messed up, but it wasn’t an intentional disrespect or anything,” he said.