The Central Bank of The Bahamas shares: Please join us on Friday, August 10th, 2018 from 6pm – 9pm for INTIMACY, the first showcasing of oil paintings and photographs by Jodi Minnis, at the Central Bank of The Bahamas Art Gallery. Minnis graduated from the College of The Bahamas with an Associates of Arts in Fine Art in 2015. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts at the University of Tampa. This exhibition will be in support of her last semester at The University of Tampa.
When hearing the word “intimacy”, the mind usually retreats to moments of romance. However, within this body of work Jodi Minnis reminds us that intimacy is subjective, therefore not exclusively romantic. Intimacy encompasses close familiarity. It alludes to friendship, a cosy, relaxed, possibly romantic atmosphere, and often times, to sexual intercourse. The exhibition’s title was cultivated parallel to the work, acting as a referent of how the work came to be.
Figurative oil painting is seen as one of the highest forms of painting and more often than not, historic oil paintings exclude black people. Minnis has considered the prescribed gaze and social positioning that her sitters occupy, and she has responded accordingly in her execution of their portraits. Throughout the body of work, Minnis presents black Bahamian women as vulnerable and approachable; without hyper-sexualizing their nudity. Minnis offers her sitters a space to be immortalized and to exist safely, as a subject.
