Visiting The Bahamas from the U.S is Stephanie Smith, the recently-appointed Chief Curator at the brand new Institute of Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, which will open in October 2017. She joins host Amanda Coulson on this week’s The Blank Canvas.
Recent events in the nation, perhaps most notably the We March protest that took place last week, showed that The Bahamas has begun to shake off the veil of apathy that we have slumbered under for what feels like too long. This year has been a belter for politics and people of all beliefs making their feelings known – for better or for worse. And, as art so often engages with the state of society, so it is that many of the submissions for the 8th National Exhibition (NE8) at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) were brash, bold, opinionated, and deeply political; reflecting how strongly so many of us feel after the various events of 2016.
We are so happy to be supporting the first Researcher In Residence for the National Exhibition and partnering with Hillside House to make it happen. Hilary Booker’s installation, “The Moonflower Room,” combines the intellectual and creative lineage from which she developed her theoretical framework with research findings of interview participants’ hopes and dreams for the future.
On tonight’s “Blank Canvas” we celebrate visual cinematic culture with the Founder and Executive Director of the Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF), Leslie Vanderpool, who joins us in the studio to speak about the upcoming 13th edition of BIFF.
How much more value can we get out of tourism by really investing in Nassau and promoting small businesses like walking tours, garden cafes, and tea shops along with waterside bars? The longer we take to change the model of rot, the harder it is and the worse the actual situation gets. Why travel to downtown Paradise to see decay? Is it not better to remain locked in a resort or on a ship?
The recent honour given to National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) staff in recognition of efforts and achievements, provide a moment of deeper thought on what this success means on a larger scale. Division is, in many ways, the trend for 2016 – the year that has B.I.G. level notoriety for just about everything going wrong.
In honour of the founding of our University of The Bahamas (UB), the Blank Canvas invited a range of guests into the studio whose vision and creative talent have helped to pave the way for the culture and vision of the new university.
This week’s “Blank Canvas” looks the artistic future of The Bahamas through three local young prize-winning artists: Jordanna Kelly, Navarro Newton and Keith Thompson.
The National Art Gallery of the Bahamas (NAGB) will open the Eighth National Exhibition (NE8) on December 15, 2016, at 6:30 pm. For the past 13 years, the NAGB has committed itself to the nurturing and fostering of a healthy creative ecosystem and it continues to push the frontiers and foundations of cultural value and consciousness across the nation and its diasporas.
Meet artists, Dylan Rapillard and Dede Brown, on this week’s Blank Canvas. Having just returned from a 5-month stint in Switzerland, the former Popopstudios residents join Amanda in the 96.9 studio to speak about their time in Switzerland, returning to The Bahamas, and what kind of perspective the time away has brought to their work.