Lenworth McIntosh

Minny Vale, 2024

Lenworth McIntosh remembers “feeling free” when he could “wander down to a local shop on a weeknight and hang out under the guidance of elders, within spaces of collective community care. Some of these folks would have also been seen at church,” but the ambiance of local shop was one of ease. In the painting Minny Vale (2024), a young boy visits a shop on a Saturday night without the supervision of his familial elders. Only speaking when spoken to, the boy revels in quiet observation, being influenced by the behaviors and interactions of the adults around him. McIntosh was raised in two different worlds that both existed within mountains and valleys of inland Jamaica, before moving to the United States as a young teenager. The colonial religious experience felt distant from the community circles found in the small towns, but the artist recognizes that they both shaped him in important ways.

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