For London-based Bailey, the project began as a way to reconnect with his roots and heritage; both sides of his family come from Jamaica.
He has been photographing since aged 15, when he became 'captivated' by the darkroom process after being introduced to it in school.
He later discovered the work of Jamaican artist Charlie Phillips, renowned for his images documenting the Caribbean immigrant experience in the UK during the 60s and 70s, and was deeply inspired.
“As a Black Jamaican photographer, he showed me that it was possible for someone like myself to succeed in the field,” Bailey says.
For diaspora children, visiting their ancestral land can often be a complex experience—a place they feel deeply connected to, yet where they might always feel somewhat like an outsider. This sense of distance inspired the title, Parish Walls, which reflects the feeling of looking in from behind a metaphorical wall that Bailey felt when visiting Jamaica.
“I chose the word ‘walls’ because it represented my perception of different communities in Jamaica and my own sense of self whenever I visited, long before I began Parish Walls,” Bailey explains.
Over time, though, his perspective evolved. His relationships with local people deepened, a transformation reflected in the work itself.
His images capture locals in their natural surroundings in places like Saint Mary, Saint Thomas, Saint Ann, Portland, and Kingston—relaxed, intimate portraits often framed by lush tropical greenery.
There is an honesty and sensitivity to these images, a sense of closeness that can only come from building a genuine personal relationship with those pictured.
Bailey’s work reveals a side of Jamaica that most tourists don’t experience—far from the resorts and the packaged version of island life sold to visitors.
“I aim to showcase the reality of the local communities in the parishes where my family is from, highlighting an island that not everyone has the opportunity to see,” he says.
Although children and younger people appear occasionally, many of Bailey’s images notably focus on older members of these communities.
These portraits perhaps reflect the elders in Bailey’s own life—older Jamaicans who passed down stories of their homeland, shaping his understanding of his heritage and ultimately helping him find his identity as a young Black British man.
