Dunkley was inspired occasionally by current events. There is a mixed media piece depicting boxer Joe Louis. 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. When the Roosevelt administration built Vernam Field at Sandy Gully during World War II, 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".
