Tracey Thorne
Sign-painters is a sub-series of photographic work from the larger project Hand-painted Jamaica, which explored Jamaica’s visual culture through a survey of graffiti, hand-painted signs, and street art. Developed through collaboration with local sign painters, the series examines how these artists shape the island’s visual landscape and how their work embodies resilience, creativity, and independence.
Through walking the streets and working alongside painters in neighbourhoods such as Denham Town, Kingston, the camera becomes a tool for learning — revealing how hand-painted signage continues to communicate identity, resistance, and everyday life in Jamaica.
All images © Tracey Thorne
Signs (2019) Portrait of Gapa, Jamaican sign painter, at his studio in Hanover. His vibrant hand-painted sign for his own shop embodies the freestyle aesthetic that emerged in post-colonial Jamaica after independence in 1962 - a distinct evolution of traditional sign painting, often described by cultural observers as akin to Jamaican graffiti. If New York–style graffiti is the visual language of hip-hop, then Jamaican sign painting can be seen as the visual language of reggae - a rhythm of colour, lettering, and local expression evident in the work of commercial sign painters across the island.
Above Photographs: Jamaican Sign-Painters, studios and thier trade signs from across the island.
Sign-Painter (2019) Portrait of Jah Carlo, Jamaican sign painter, at his roadside studio, Studio Black, in Bluefields, Westmoreland. His studio exemplifies Jamaica’s vibrant sign culture, where artists move fluidly between commercial signage and personal expression. Rooted in Rastafarian culture, Jah Carlo’s hand-lettering and painted artworks embody the individuality and creativity at the heart of Jamaican sign painting. His studio also serves as an unofficial shrine to the late great Peter Tosh - Carlo painted the art work on Tosh’s mausoleum, located not far from his own studio.