Interviews Archives - National Art Gallery of The Bahamas

Everybody is hoping for something

26 December 2018 Interviews

Angelika Wallace-Whitfield talks NE9 public project ‘Hope Is a Weapon’ by Kevanté Cash, NAGB Correspondent. “Hope is an optimistic attitude,

NAGB’s free Film Series returns: An interview with Travolta Cooper

15 October 2018 Interviews

By Natalie Willis. An interview with Travolta Cooper on his plans for screenings and finding his “true north”. The NAGB free film series is back for fall! From the spooky to winter-heartwarmers, we have got you covered. This week, we chat with Travolta Cooper – yes, that really is his name! – who will be curating this new season of screenings. The premiere opens with the terrifying classic, Rosemary’s Baby (1968) this Thursday October 18th at 7:00pm in Fiona’s Theatre at the NAGB. First, here’s more on the mind selecting these great bits of cinema for us.

Bahamian Arts and Culture: The Fruit and the Seed Part 2

24 August 2018 Interviews

The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) holds a national exhibition every two years where all Bahamian artists and

The Fruit and the Seed – Part One: A conversation with the NAGB’s chief curator, Holly Bynoe, on the upcoming 9th National Exhibition.

30 July 2018 Interviews

The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) holds a national exhibition every two years where all Bahamian artists and

Africa, Agency, and Atom Spirits: Does the body remember the journey across the Atlantic?

3 July 2018 Interviews

By Natalie Willis This week we continue our discussion with Nicole Yip, the Director of LUX Scotland. LUX is a

Tall Order: An interview with Nicole Yip of LUX Scotland on meaningful exchange and working to decolonize the archive

11 June 2018 Interviews

The NAGB, in collaboration with LUX Scotland, has put together some really incredible content for our series of film screenings as part of the programming for our current exhibition in partnership with the British Council, “We Suffer To Remain”. Moving image has impacted us so greatly as a region in terms of shaping our narratives, and in how we decolonise and re-shape those narratives for ourselves. The first programme in the series of screenings, titled “One Turn of the Revolution”, featured artwork by the lauded Black Audio Film Collective and Barbadian-born, Glasgow-based Alberta Whittle, dealing with issues around migration and the post-colonial in Britain and in former colonies. Programme II, “Poetics of the Undercommons” will be on view at the NAGB on June 14th.

Over 800 Million Souls: An interview with Graham Fagen (Pt II) on his work in “We Suffer To Remain”

17 April 2018 Interviews

By Natalie Willis. We continue where we left off with Graham Fagen last week on discussing his work, “The Slave’s Lament” (2015) in the collaborative exhibition, “We Suffer To Remain”.

NW: Where you do situate your voice in the work and in the overall exhibition? In “The Slave’s Lament” do you see yourself in the work, or more as a facilitator?

GF: You as the artist, in collaborating with people, start with an aim as to what you think you could achieve, or what you hope you could achieve. When you start the process it needs to allow space and room for other people to offer what they want to bring to the project. I suppose I was directing their influence and then having them step back, and then I would take that influence on to each stage. When I see the work, for me it’s Ghetto Priest’s, the Scottish ensemble’s, it’s lots of other people’s work. And that’s good, I like that as an artist, when what you make belongs to others.

Other Tongues: An interview with Graham Fagen (Pt I) on Scottish cultural amnesia and gazing into the mouth of silenced histories.

9 April 2018 Interviews

By Natalie Willis

The last in our series of two-part interviews with the artists of “We Suffer To Remain”, this week we speak to Scottish artist Graham Fagen on having his work not only as the starting point of this series of exhibitions on “Difficult Conversations”, but also on having his work brought to the Caribbean context to which it refers. “The Slave’s Lament” (2015) is a moment for us to consider the realities of this Trans-Atlantic history in contemporary contexts, and now that we’ve seen Bahamian responses with our national artists responding to this work, we take a moment to consider Fagen’s perspectives in our space.

Beadle, the Mechanic: An Interview with John Beadle on his work for “We Suffer To Remain”, part II

26 March 2018 Interviews

By Natalie Willis. Last week we heard John Beadle speak to his participation in “We Suffer To Remain”, an exhibition in collaboration with the British Council. The works produced in “We Suffer To Remain”–the Bahamian leg of a 4-part journey of the British Council’s “Difficult Conversations” series of exhibitions– serve as Caribbean response to Scottish artist Graham Fagen’s work, “The Slave’s Lament”. Shown at the Venice Biennale in 2015 as a representation for Scotland in the global art biennial, and choosing to uncover the country’s complicit nature in the Slave trade and the general amnesia surrounding Britain with their role and repercussions in chattel slavery – there is more to this work than meets the eye. Here is a not-so-difficult conversation with Beadle.

“Who do we speak for?” An interview with John Beadle for the upcoming exhibition “We Suffer To Remain”

20 March 2018 Interviews

By Natalie Willis. Continuing with our series of artist interviews in the lead up to the opening of “We Suffer To Remain” on March 22nd, the product of a collaboration between the NAGB and the British Council, we stop to chat with John Beadle. Beadle is considered one of our master artists and works in a range of media. From painting to installations, his practice looks to some of the difficult aspects of the Bahamian condition and aesthetically shows his background in Junkanoo outside of his artist training.