Opio was born in Portland, Jamaica, of Maroon and Asante heritage. He studied at the Jamaica School of Art, now the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, and the Chelsea College of Art, London. Opio went on to study Technology Education at the Greenwich University and did postgraduate studies in Business Information Technology at the Middlesex University, both in London.
Opio was Head of Technology at secondary school level and has lectured in Art and Design at tertiary level. Being an active member of the Black Arts movement in 1980s London, Opio has participated in many exhibitions and was commissioned by The Organisation for Black-Arts Advancement and Learning Activities, to do a larger than life, bust of the Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Opio was an illustrator for children’s programmes with satellite television and was commissioned to create a large anatomical model of the knee joint for the BBC television programme, Body Matters.
A great interest of Opio’s is the regeneration of the local community. He has worked with neighbourhood groups and schools to creatively improve and brighten their environment. Opio believes that the community belongs to each of its members, from the youngest child to the oldest adult. The citizens should decide on what goes into their community and be actively involved in its development. When each community member is physically involved in its development, they will also feel responsible for its maintenance and preservation. Bright and beautiful environments help to produce bright and positive individuals and also isolate criminal elements.
Opio’s art is a record of his life experience and growing self-knowledge - a record of some of the ancestors, people, thoughts and dreams that have nurtured him to this point in his development. Opio desires that his work will enhance the lives of those that experience it.
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