Considered the father of St. Lucian painting, Sir Dunstan St. Omer is by far the island’s best-known painter. It would be difficult to visit St. Lucia and not be exposed to his work. His murals beautify Roman Catholic churches, schools, and public places around the island. Trinidad, Martinique, and Puerto Rico have also been blessed with his murals. It would be very unconvincing to declare that one is a patron of St. Lucian art and not have a Dunstan St. Omer painting hanging in one’s home. The works of St. Omer are as visible and as much part of the aesthetic landscape of St. Lucia as are the Pitons, and it would be just as hard spending time in St. Lucia and remaining unaware of the Pitons as it would be not to lay eyes on St. Omer’s work.
In the early 1970s, St. Omer painted religious murals in several Roman Catholic Churches that sparked a mini-revolution. The murals were populated with black Madonna, black Jesus, black priests, St. Lucian folk culture, and ordinary St. Lucians going about their daily lives. Indeed, with a few brush strokes, the artist has forever ennobled ordinary St. Lucians and uplifted his people to the level of gods. In so doing St. Omer St. Lucianize the Roman Catholic Church, and, according to him, gave the people back their God and religion.
THE BLACK JESUS
Church of Sts. Philip and James, Fond St. Jacques, Soufriere
THE HOLY FAMILY
Church of the Holy Family, Jacmel, Anse La Raye
FLOWER FESTIVALS
Church of St. Rose Lima, Monchy, Gros Islet
THE LAST SUPPER
The Church of Holy Redeemer, Desruisseaux, Micoud
UNNAMED
Prime Minister’s Bld., Waterfront, Castries
PRISIMISM MURAL
Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, Castries
