[4] He returned to Chiriqui, where he set up a barbershop and started painting in his spare time, encouraged by Clarence Rock, a prominent Panamanian photographer.
[3] Dunkley's scenes are full of references to the unsettling political, economic and social conditions roiling colonial Jamaica in the 1930s and 1940s.
The work reflects the racial tension, economic inequality and desire for self-government felt by Jamaicans and other Caribbean islanders.
Dunkley was deeply involved in the socio-political issues of his day, in particular the rampant racism that saw him become a pan-Africanist and an admirer of Marcus Garvey.
Fantastic vegetation, trees and shrubs with overblown flowers, are contrasted with bare truncated branches, in a way that encourages the viewer's understanding of them as phallic symbols.
In "Lonely Road", "Springboard", "Woman Feeding Fish" and "Footbridge", the typically dense vegetation gives way to more expansive vistas and clearer skies.
Surreal touches, such as the isolated platform in "Springboard", leaves pushing up through the cracks in "Feeding the Fishes" and the unstable support in "Footbridge" contribute to the sense of unease.
In the "Good Shepherd" (circa 1938), populist politician Alexander Bustamante is shown gathering flocks of sheep, while in the distance a few straggly goats run away.
[3] When the Roosevelt administration built Vernam Field at Sandy Gully during World War II,[10] Dunkley made a painting of the president.
From a large piece of Lignum Vitae cut down for the military base, he carved a seated portrait of a proud Jamaican man and named him "Sandy Gully".
Three works, "Back to Nature", "Jerboa" and "Pastures" were exhibited at the Institute of Jamaica's 1945 Survey of West Indian Painting, a show that also traveled to Canada.
Dunkley was represented by two pieces, "Jerboa" and "Back to Nature" in the exhibition "Three Decades of Jamaican Painting" at Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery in London (1971).
[9] With the resurrection of a fair percentage of his oeuvre in the retrospective and a subsequent permanent display of his work, Dunkley regained his position as a true Jamaican master.
[3] From 26 May 2017 through 14 January 2018, the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) held the first major exhibition of Dunkley's work outside of his native country.
John Dunkley: Neither Day nor Night was composed of forty-five works, paintings from the 1930s and 1940s, as well as rare carved wood and stone figures.
It included rare photographs, artifacts and film footage from the turn of the 20th century to the Jamaican Nationalist movement, providing further context to Dunkley's output.