ITE 2022 – “From Time: Water Has A Perfect Memory”

The exhibition, “From Time: Water Has A Perfect Memory”, in many ways functions as a time capsule. Using historical knowledge and visual interpretations to engage with The Bahamas’s past and present, we are able to envision a more hopeful future. Including colonial works from the 1800s to the post-independence contemporary practice of the last few decades, “From Time” invites conversations about slavery and colonialism to examine how such institutions generated the gross accumulation of wealth and booming industrial era that serves as a catalyst for the climate injustices we now witness.

The curators dissect our national identity as it exists now and as it has evolved through time. They also direct our collective gaze forward to ask how we can envision a better, more hopeful future. “From Time” draws on works from the National Collection to prompt our attention to pressing issues of sustainability, environment and evolution. It also focuses on the movement of people and future-building in our beloved Bahamian and Caribbean spaces. We are challenged to consider the meaning of history and archives on our own terms and to dare to imagine an abundant and inclusive afro-future.

This exhibition was conceived to accompany the Inter-Island Travelling Exhibition (ITE) programme. The ITE was designed to actively engage Family Island residents in the museum’s programming and increase access to the National Collection. The ITE is an amalgamation of ongoing community outreach that the NAGB has coordinated in New Providence. Within the scope of the ITE, this exhibition accompanies other NAGB programmes including tours, resource donation, a curator’s talk, the mural programme and student and adult workshops. These initiatives are comprehensively designed and executed to engage people from varying demographics, and these events will all be free and open to the public.

“From Time” makes its final stop with the ITE in George Town, Exuma. The exhibition opens on April 2, 2022, at 12PM at the Star Turnquest plaza and will remain open through May 15, 2022. So, if you are in the Exuma area, please take time to pay us a visit and experience the show. For more information contact our Community Outreach Officer, Zearier Munroe-Wilkinson, at [email protected].