Deborah Jack: 20 Years was produced in conjunction with the artist's 2021 exhibition at NYC's Pen + Brush. The catalogue is the first comprehensive publication dedicated entirely to exploring and contextualizing two decades of work by Jack. Featuring thoughtful yet critical essays by Grace Aneiza Ali, Elizabeth DeLoughery, Jessica Lanay, and Dr. Hershini Young, Jack is positioned exactly where she needs to be in the canon of art history: as a pioneer of visual nuance when it comes to ancestral memory, colonial histories, and the role of land and sea in contemporary art. From the early millennium to present day, Jack’s photo, collage, video and installation works are laid out together for the first time as an artist capturing the nexus of past (ancestral) traumas and present-day
tensions. The Caribbean and, in particular, the island of Saint Martin are featured prominently in Jack’s work. But beyond the specifics of place the artist offers a broader road map for addressing a collective present and past.
