Tamika Galanis – “28”

Coming soon to the Project Space (PS) and NAGB Online Exhibitions is an installation of Tamika Galanis’ 2015 video work, “28”. This PS show is included as an offering as part of the current Permanent Exhibition, “Medicine & Memory” on public health in The Bahamas.

The work is, in Galanis’ words, ”an emotional response to family photographs of a mother/daughter relationship cut short because of substance abuse issues.” Taking deeply personal family archival photos of the artist with her mother, we see the gradual disintegration of family laid out visually – relationships, images and memories put to flame. Given the focus on public health and wellbeing, we look to this deeply moving piece as a space of catharsis and recognition for those whose families have been torn apart by the widespread issues of substance abuse in marginalized demographics and communities – particularly in the Caribbean and our diaspora. Substance abuse in regions and communities like ours tie heavily into difficulties around postcolonial traumas, ancestral traumas, and contemporary marginalization of Black and Caribbean peoples the world over.