Jamaican diaspora

There comes a moment in every long project when the drawings no longer matter as much as the ground beneath your feet. You can feel it before you can explain it.The conditions shift.The weather changes.The assumptions that once held begin to wobble. Jamaica is standing in such a moment now. For decades, we have lived with a quiet understanding—one that shaped our homes, our families, and our...

There are nights in Britain—cold, wet, endlessly grey—when the moon hangs low, almost ashamed, as if it knows it cannot shine the way it does over Jamaica. And for thousands of Jamaicans who arrived in the United Kingdom after the Second World War, that dim moonlight was often the first reminder that home was not just miles away, it was a different kind of light entirely. They stepped off the...

There are some journeys that stretch beyond geography. They live in the bloodstream, passed quietly from one generation to the next. They become part of a nation’s muscle memory. The story of Jamaica and London—London and Jamaica—is one of those journeys. It is a love story built on courage, sacrifice, disappointment, triumph, and the unbreakable belief that life can always be rebuilt from...

There are stories in history that unfold not like a straight line, but like the design of a great building — foundations dug in hardship, walls raised in determination, spaces filled with laughter and struggle, and, after years, a kind of symmetry that no one could have planned. The Windrush story, especially the part written by Jamaica and its people, is one such structure. Cinematic film still of...

There are moments when a song doesn’t just fill the air — it fills the story of a nation. Oh lawd, oh lawd, oh gosh, ay! The song begins with gratitude, a reminder that blessings, even when hard-won, fall on our table. That is Jamaica’s heartbeat: thankful for the blessings that have fallen on my table, learning all my lessons, now I’m willing and I’m able. This island has always carried...

There are some songs that do more than entertain; they seem to echo across time, threading themselves through the veins of a people scattered far from home. When Mikey Spice sang “I Am… I Said”, he captured the paradox of the Jamaican abroad—caught between the familiarity of foreign streets and the lingering ache of a homeland carried deep inside. For every Jamaican who has ever gazed out of a...

"Nanny didn’t just fight for freedom. She fought for land. And to this day, we dishonour that legacy when we let that land go to waste." — Dean Jones Across the winding hills of St. Mary, the red dirt paths of Portland, and the sun-drenched plains of Clarendon, there are stories buried in the soil—of courage, migration, hardship, and above all, ownership. As a direct descendant of the...

It wouldn’t surprise most Jamaicans to hear that a significant number of buyers pressed pause on their home search last year. The truth? Nearly 70% of would-be homeowners took a step back. And who could blame them? The landscape was rough: prices were soaring like the Blue Mountains, mortgage rates played hopscotch, and property listings were as rare as ackee out of season. So, if you were one of...

For many Jamaicans, owning a home isn’t just about shelter—it’s about legacy. And for decades, we’ve been finding strategic ways to build that legacy, even when the odds were stacked against us. Whether it was boarding a ship to England in the 1950s, flying out to “foreign” in the 1980s, or doing back-to-back jobs in New York and Miami today—Jamaicans have a long history of going abroad,...

Jamaica is more than a place—it is a feeling, a rhythm, and a home to many who yearn to return. Whether it's the scent of fresh ackee on a Sunday morning or the sight of the Blue Mountains rising in the distance, the call to come home is powerful. For Jamaicans living abroad, this yearning often becomes a goal: to return permanently and reclaim their roots. A Historical Look: The Journey Abroad and...