Heating up the region’s cultural arena at the Fiesta del Fuego, the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas recently traveled to Santiago, Cuba to represent The Bahamas at the festival’s pop-up gallery. Santiago is the island nation’s second-largest city and former capital. The city, said to be situated in the heart of the Caribbean, celebrates its 500th anniversary this year.
With two new exhibitions fast approaching, the team at The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas is thrilled to welcome 50/50, the first show of the Double Dutch project, and Celebrating 40 Years of The Central Bank: A Pillar of Arts Commitment, which both open on Tuesday, June 2.
With its eyes set on uniting the members of the region’s visual art scene for the advancement of the Caribbean as a whole, The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) will be launching the inaugural Double Dutch project to do just that. The Double Dutch project is an ongoing commitment to exhibit the works of two artists – one from The Bahamas and the other from another nation in the region – in a two-person show at the NAGB. Each iteration of Double Dutch will be exhibited for two months with two projects occurring annually during summer.
“The Queen Staircase” is easily one of Bahamian Domestic’s most recognizable works.
In seeing so many large, bright, and significant works in Bahamian Domestic, it might seem peculiar to pick a piece that appears so much smaller and more subtle in comparison. However, it’s equally essential to find the importance in the things that become marginalized by bigger entities – the significance in the small. For Natalie Willis, National Art Gallery Curatorial Trainee, Lavar Munroe’s “Migrant” seemed appropriate to discuss and share as April’s Art Work of the Month.
Dedicated to forging infrastructure between independent art organizations and museums operating across the Caribbean, U.S., E.U., U.K., African continent and China, the international visual arts conference, “Tilting Axis: Within and beyond the Caribbean – shifting models of sustainability and connectivity”, was held recently in Barbados.
Teaming up to transform part of the grounds at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) this year are cousins College of The Bahamas Assistant Professor of Sociology Nicolette Bethel and artist and designer Margot Bethel, who will be assembling a representation of a former family home. The artwork was originally planned as a piece for the Seventh National Exhibition, Antillean: an Ecology, but the project had to be delayed due to conflicting schedules.