it comes from the head: A Straw Heritage

It comes from the head: A Straw Heritage celebrates straw craft through contemporary interpretations by Bahamian artists. This exhibition is inspired by Thelma Eula Cambridge’s writings in “Growing functional arts in the Bahamas.” The 1968 hand-bound volume considers the possibilities of straw work in education and the economy while documenting techniques, origins, and examples of the practice.

Straw work and its legacy are woven into Bahamian histories of identity, labor, migration, environment, tourism, colonialism, and Transatlantic Slavery. It comes from the head encourages the recognition of straw work’s stake in the nation’s cultural fabric as a contemporary mode of expression. Artwork in this exhibition honors the creativity, discipline, and commitment in the artisans, plaiters, vendors, and heritage-keepers that support and maintain straw craft as an art form and industry.

This exhibition is curated by Simone Cambridge.