Life on the Line Brings Jamaica’s Railway History into Focus

Photographers Alan Smith and Radi Konstantinov explore the remnants of Jamaica’s railway in an exhibition curated by Emma Miles, opening in Kingston on November 27.

What remains of a railway after the trains stop running? In Jamaica, the answer can be found in the structures, landscapes and communities that have developed around its former routes. Life on the Line, an upcoming photographic exhibition by Alan Smith and Radi Konstantinov, turns its attention to these traces of the island’s railway history.

Through photography, the project documents the physical remnants of the railway and the environments that now surround them. Sections of track, deteriorating structures and vegetation reclaiming the landscape form part of a visual record of an infrastructure that once connected communities across the island.

The exhibition follows the photographers’ return to Jamaica’s railway network, building on Smith’s earlier documentation of the route in 2001. In 2025, Smith and Konstantinov undertook a 70-mile journey from Spanish Town to Port Antonio, photographing what remains along the way.

Rather than presenting the railway solely as a historical artefact, Life on the Line draws attention to its continued presence in the Jamaican landscape. The photographs offer a way to consider how places change, how infrastructure acquires new uses and how traces of the past persist in everyday surroundings.

Curated by Emma Miles, the exhibition brings the photographers’ documentation into a shared viewing space at the Jamaica Railway Corporation in Kingston. Visitors will have the opportunity to encounter these landscapes through the images and reflect on the relationship between Jamaica’s built environment, its history and the people who inhabit it.

For audiences familiar with the island’s railway history, the exhibition offers a closer look at what survives beyond the better-known accounts of its operation. For others, it provides an entry point into a lesser-seen aspect of Jamaica’s physical and cultural landscape.

Life on the Line will be on view from November 27 to December 6, 2026, at the Jamaica Railway Corporation, 142 Barry Street, Kingston. An opening reception will take place on Friday, November 27.

Exhibition Details

• Exhibition: Life on the Line

• Photographers: Alan Smith and Radi Konstantinov

• Curator: Emma Miles

• Dates: November 27 to December 6, 2026

• Opening reception: Friday, November 27, 2026, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.

• Venue: Jamaica Railway Corporation, 142 Barry Street, Kingston

• RSVP: To attend the opening reception on Friday, November 27, RSVP at lifeonthelineja.com/rsvp.