Jamaica will be represented in the upcoming Inter-American Development Bank's ongoing mission of facilitating the immense artistic creativity of the Hemisphere and the relationship between art and development.
The IADB in 2018 created the moving art installation, titled Sidewalk of the Americas, with the first exhibition of the installation being staged in Mendoza Argentina, where the work of 83 artists was displayed as part of the III Ibero-American Forum of Mayors.
Citing the project as a great success, the IDB Creativity division explained that it was a success because "as we anticipated, it sparked conversations about the most important challenges facing Latin American and the Caribbean and highlighting the ways in which art and creativity foster disruption, change, and innovative solutions".
In a statement issued on Friday May 25 2018 the IDB explained that in the next few weeks it will be creating a temporary installation of the Sidewalk of the Americas at its headquarters in Washington, DC in a space dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, innovation and creativity.
"This step to present the project here at headquarters is critical in exposing to policy makers, IDB specialists and other interested audiences the project and the potential it has in the region".
Further, "the idea is that these new audiences will seek out the opportunity to bring the project to their own countries and cities. Furthermore, it can help link the development work of the Bank with that of the role of artists and creatives by generating potential conversation around doing research and studies on, for example, the impact of art in urban environments or on changing mindsets".
The initial search for proposals was done in 2017 and was for 150 artworks to represent the Latin American and Caribbean. Only 83 pieces were selected as to the standard required. Jamaica's representative is visual artist and photographer Maia Chung whose piece entitled Miss Jamaica Pain was chosen by the IDB art specialists to be displayed in the first art installation in Argentina and will be exhibited again in Washington DC.
