National Exhibition 4

Featuring the work of thirty-one professional Bahamian artists, the fourth National Exhibition officially opened on Tuesday, July 8, 2008. A thoughtful set of proposals was submitted for the NE4 competition. At the end of the selection process, 51 works produced by 31 artists were chosen. The artwork was diverse and included paintings, sculptures, installations, prints, mixed-media works and photography. Perhaps most significant was the number of female artists who participated—approximately 50 percent of the artists were women.

“While the work in the 2008 National Exhibition confronts the viewer in substantial ways, the desire is not to distance the audience from the art, but to engage it. The audience is being asked to release themselves to the possibilities of the images, objects, and installations, their boldness, their forthrightness, their willingness to engage the totality of what it means to be Bahamian, unmasked. Through these works of art, the exhibiting artists express a belief in the power of a national artistic practice that is rooted, complex, global and unbound.”

—Dr. Erica James, NE4 catalogue