Selected Exhibitions
Disappearing Sun, TERN.
January 15 - February 28, 2026.
Nassau, Bahamas.
From TERN:
‘In his first solo exhibition with TERN, Caymanian artist John Reno Jackson presents “Disappearing Sun” — a mixed media display of new abstract paintings, drawings, and poetry. Following the cyclical phenomenon of time observed through nature, Jackson uses the daypoints of “sunrise, day, sunset, and dusk” as a means of thinking about heritage, identity, and the fragile continuity of culture in the ever-shifting Caribbean.
An interdisciplinary artist, John Reno Jackson draws inspiration from his Caymanian heritage and the dynamic environment surrounding him. His work and research are rooted in the tension of Caymanian people being the minority in their own nation, exploring how memory, migration, and materiality shape identity through the lens of geometric abstraction.
“Disappearing Sun” questions how culture persists in a region where the past is continually overwritten by tourism, globalisation, and the relentless acceleration of the modern world. Jackson rejects the binary logics of Euro-American Modernism, its strict doctrines of purity, and its fantasy of universality. Instead, he literally works from the ground up, sourcing materials and textures of the Cayman Islands, archipelagic thinking, and Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean technologies of ‘making’ that never needed permission from the Western canon.
“Disappearing Sun” ultimately asks one to hold on to what is graspable, by acknowledging that both erosion and renewal shape Caribbean realities.’
Gestures of The Unseen, TERN.
September 13 - October 19, 2024.
Nassau, Bahamas.
The Caribbean is habitually aligned with realism, resulting in figurative painting and the desire to portray the geographical natural beauty of our surroundings. However, there is also a strong tradition of non-representational abstract and representational -abstract works, often created as an offshoot of spiritual practice or by self-taught artists that therefore remain less acknowledged or appreciated. With a complex history of movement both in and out of the region — from the historic trauma of the transatlantic slave trade, to the quest for a better life through migration, to the contemporary brain drain — we become more diasporic and lose track of our stories. Shared histories and connections sink into obscurity only to resurface in disparate places, connected by the invisible umbilical cord: “Gestures of the Unseen” aims to reclaim and reconnect both people and practice. Click below for more information.
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Gestures of The Unseen, TERN. September 13 - October 19, 2024.
"a heron amongst the storm", National Gallery of the Cayman Islands.
June 04 - August 12, 2022.
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.
During the summer of 2022, Jackson held his first major solo exhibition with the NGCI. The exhibition featured a cohesive body of work, with each painting seeking to unlock answers to a series of rhetorical questions. The artist aimed to reflect contemporary issues within the Cayman Islands through his work. In the centre of the exhibition, a table was created with the audience in mind, providing a space for attendees to create their own artworks and share them with others. Over 100 artworks were made by the guests and visitors during the course of the exhibition, demonstrating the power of art to bring people together and inspire creative expression.
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