This Wednesday’s “Blank Canvas” sees the beginning of a series of shows focussing on the participating artists in the new National Exhibition NE8, opening this Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. at Villa Doyle (NAGB) and Hillside House on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. The Eighth National Exhibition is an exhibition featuring the works of over 60 artists, facilitators, and poets, who were asked to create work that addressed their current thoughts and discourse as citizens of The Bahamas and the world. The result is an astounding show that touches on topics of identity, community, and environment.
This week’s guests are Dave Smith (centre), an artist of British descent currently residing in Los Angeles, who lived and worked in The Bahamas for 17 years, where he taught art. Smith’s works in hyperreal painting which often discusses issues of identity and how tourism has affected our vision of ourselves, as well as sectioning off parts of the island and society from one another.
Averia Wright (far right), who is currently completing her BFA in Sculpture and Expanded Practice at the University of Ohio, is a young Bahamian who has grown up seeing first hand how tourism informs our relationships to others and ourselves. As the both daughter and granddaughter to Straw Market vendors, Averia speaks to the—sometimes false—idea ideas of “Bahamian-ness’ that is passed down through the products we sell to our visitors.
NAGB’s Blank Canvas airs every Wednesday at 6:30 pm on Guardian Talk Radio, 96.9FM. You can catch the live stream at www.guardiantalkradiocom. Be sure to tune in.
