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Decked hina doll of the empress on display on the occasion of Hinamatsuri "I have always decorated the dolls since my daughter was small,” recalled Sayoko Takase, pointing  to the elaborate display of hina dolls, Hinamatsuri – or the Doll Festival, celebrating girls – which is about good health and future happiness.  Elegantly attired in traditional Japanese finery – silk kimono and jewellery – the hina dolls were intricately placed on a pedestal on March 3. “It (Hinamatsuri) is the celebration of health and happiness of girls, it does not matter how large the display of the dolls are, it is the thought that matters,” said Mrs Takase, wife of Japanese ambassador to Jamaica, Yasuo Takase. Her daughter, Yuria, is grown up now, studying in a University in Tokyo, but this occasion still finds relevance. “It is a celebration of being a girl, and I feel proud,” Yuria exclaimed. Hina doll of the Emperor The dolls, are not only pretty faces and grand attires, they ha...

A social commentary - severance and divorce, paintings by Mortimer "When I was seven and go to church, I used to use the blank 'note' pages of the Bible to draw," Mortimer McPherson recalled. "The notes were drawings in my Bible." Perhaps a divine intervention that was encouraging this youngster's creativity to ooze from his pencils and send a message to the Almighty, Mortimer embarked on his artistic journey. There were some other key influences in his life, as he was growing up in St Catherine. "My mother was a dressmaker, and I was always observing her process of putting things together," he said, "and there was a painter and sculptor in the community, whose works also inspired me." But, he said, his mother was not too pleased when Mortimer decided to pursue arts as a career. "My mother couldn't come to terms with that decision, my older brothers went to the university and she wanted me to do that too," M...