The John Beadle Project

The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas presents a new body of work by Nassau-born artist John Beadle. Expanding beyond painting into sculpture and large-scale installation, Beadle examines questions of belonging, perception, and the social conditions that shape how we relate to one another. Drawing on personal experience as the child of a Bahamian mother and Jamaican father, the work engages themes of migration, xenophobia, and the tensions that arise around ideas of difference and national identity.

Installed in the Ballroom at NAGB, the exhibition features silhouetted human forms constructed from materials associated with domestic protection, including decorative metal security gates, mosquito netting, and chain-link fencing. Recalling the shapes of paper shooting targets, the figures create an uneasy interplay between vulnerability and defence. Some silhouettes appear embedded within metal grilles but are in fact made from cardboard, suggesting the fragility of perceived security. The installation considers how physical barriers influence relationships between neighbours and reflect broader psychological divisions between “us” and “them.”

John Beadle studied at the College of The Bahamas under painter Stan Burnside before completing a BFA in painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA at Tyler School of Art and Architecture. Since returning to The Bahamas, he has remained an active presence in the contemporary art community and has been a member of several artist collectives, including B-CAUSE, Opus 5, and Burnside.Beadle.Burnside. His work has been included in multiple editions of the National Exhibition, as well as international exhibitions such as the São Paulo Biennial, the Biennial of Caribbean Painting in Santo Domingo, and the Liverpool Biennial.