admin, Author at National Art Gallery of The Bahamas

“To Throw Rocks” Exhibition Opening at UB

18 November 2019 Network

To Throw Rocks, curated by Matthew Rahming, is an exploration of wider Black masculinities. In unpacking the tropes around Black masculine identities in The Bahamas, through a survey of practices ranging from the 70s to now, this selection puts particular focus on love, sex and sexuality, tenderness, labor and violence. The exhibition features work by Rashad Adderley, John Beadle, Justin Benjamin, Tyesha Brooks, Blake Fox, Amaani Hepburn, Allan Jones and Rashad Leamount, Jodi Minnis, Heino Schmid, Jarette Stubbs and Bradley Wood. In an effort to widen the scope of voices present, artwork from the National Collection, The Collection of the University of the Bahamas and the Brenton Story Collection have been drawn from to round out the conversation in its fullness. These voices come together to acknowledge the powers and privileges (or lack thereof) at play, to face the vulnerability, to bring awareness to responsibility, and to address conflicts around what it means to exist as a man, particularly a black man, in The Bahamas. To Throw Rocks opens on Thursday, November 21st at 5:30pm in the Franklin Wilson Graduate Centre on the University of the Bahamas’ Oaksfield Campus as a part of in conjunction with the 8th annual Critical Caribbean Symposium Series. The exhibition will run until December 2019. For more information, please feel free to contact Matthew Rahming at mr.matthew.rahming@hotmail.com

Blank Canvas: November 6th, 2019, Central Bank of The Bahamas High School Art Competition

13 November 2019 Podcasts

Tonight’s “Blank Canvas” is all about the Central Bank of The Bahamas’ commitment time the arts.

Blank Canvas: October 30th, 2019, Kendra Frorup

13 November 2019 Podcasts

On this tonight’s Blank Canvas, Amanda is joined in the studio by Bahamian artist, Kendra Frorup, a professor of Art & Design at the University of Tampa. Kendra’s focus is on the global conversation about connections and identity with a special interest in the Caribbean and Africa. She has exhibited her sculptures in the United States and in worldwide venues such as the Caribbean, France, Puerto Rico and Martinique, Ghetto Biennale, Haiti, UNESCO in Andorra, and The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas.

Blank Canvas: October 23rd, 2019, Deime Ubani

13 November 2019 Podcasts

On this week’s show, Deime Ubani comes to speak about her own artistic practice (she currently has work at the Central Bank of The Bahamas’ Open category exhibitors) and also the importance of community and collectives working for the benefit of the people. She shares about different artist groups that she is a part of—including the SALUS Project and the Artist’s Circle—and her next group project “Black Out: Art in The Dark” at the Creative Center on the PopopStudio grounds.

The Straw Paradox

12 November 2019 Articles

By Natalie Willis. Averia Wright’s “The Straw Paradox: The Pig That Built His House of Straw” is something of a paradox in the name itself. Straw work in The Bahamas is a bit of a misnomer – it isn’t really “straw” in the Western traditional sense at all. Our straw is not made of barley, wheat or things of that ilk at all, rather, it is a pale gold weaving made of Silver Top Palm. Wright comes from a family of straw market women, and has been plaiting her whole life.

I’s Man: Ian Strachan’s documentary on masculinity in The Bahamas captures the polemics of today’s ‘Man Crisis’.

11 November 2019 Articles

By Dr Ian Bethell-Bennett, University of The Bahamas. English Social Sciences organised a screening and panel discussion of the film I’s Man at the University of The Bahamas on Wednesday, November 6th, at 6:00 p.m. The room was packed as students and faculty from sociology, psychology, English and the general public came out to discuss the current ‘man crisis’. The film captures perspectives from multiple angles that discuss the imagery of black masculinity and its descriptors from objectifying women in batty riders to murder for glory because of ego issues: the intersections of sexuality and socio-cultural and economic pressures conflate to conform to roles society perceives as normal and in turn normalises. If men do not consume women like that, something must be wrong with them. Much is documented in the film of the ways black masculinities are defined and controlled by a capitalistic, hegemonic racialised system that seeks to disempower through weaponised messaging and stereotyping. Meanwhile, the documentary reveals this underside.

The Sea as Life: Cargo and VLOSA

4 November 2019 Articles

By Dr. Ian Bethell-Bennett, The University of The Bahamas. It is the Visual Life of Social Affliction that speaks out against silence imposed over death. Undocumented death. If one lives an undocumented life, does one die an undocumented death?

The sea as life

One is buoyed on by levity, not dropped like a lead weight to the bottom of the sea, where there are souls that link from Africa to the New World and back again. These disembodied figures, souls linking lands, the submarine link, or submerged mother of Edward Brathwaite’s creation bind us together. They travel up from Haiti through the Ragged Island passage to northern shores. This is life suspended in a watery elixir of death and blue green beauty: the irony of nature.

Peggy Hering’s “Lilies” (1984): On Being Both Student and Teacher

28 October 2019 Articles

Peggy Hering’s “Lilies” (1984) invites reflection on movement and permanence in the Caribbean. This rare piece from the Dawn Davies Collection offers a glimpse into the life of an artist whose story is woven into Nassau’s past.

From the Collection: “Solomon” (2000) by Stan Burnside

21 October 2019 Articles

By Natalie Willis. King Solomon, the biblical king of Israel, is revered in Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Rastafarianism alike. A wealthy and wise man (the latter of which people the world over feel are missing in leadership), he was known for his sense of justice and morality, and perhaps most famously known for settling a dispute between two women who fought over the guardianship of a child. We’ve most often seen this son of David, the successor to the throne, depicted as a wizened old man with a beard, looking every inch the grandfather. Why then, do we seem to get such contrasting reactions to Stan Burnside’s “Solomon” (2000) in our space? People claim to love the large scale work or despise it. We’ve had to move it from external spaces on loan because it was seen as “too much” or disconcerting – which feels rather unsettling for our dear Gallery + Collections Assistant, Matthew Rahming, whose likeness is often compared to that of Burnside’s king.

Blank Canvas: October 16th, 2019, Create Space reair

17 October 2019 Podcasts

On this week’s “Blank Canvas” we will reair the September 25th show featuring art therapist, Susan Moir Mackey. As part of the NAGB”s “We Gatchu: Sanctuary After the Storm” initiative, the NAGB Education team partnered with Mackey to deliver the “Create Space” initiative. These specialised art sessions were designed to release emotions or find quietness. Working with art materials after a crisis can be an excellent tool for restoring a sense of safety, connection and rebuilding agency and grounding for individuals and communities.