Exhibitions

The History of the NAGB compiles and showcases the NAGB’s history from its start as a stately residence to its present-day status as the premier national art institution in The Bahamas. Explore the rich history, influential people, and pioneering exhibitions that placed the museum at the center of Bahamian art and culture.

“Medicine & Memory: Public Health in The Bahamas”, begins to unpack practices around healing and medicine (of both the pharmaceutical and bush variety) in The Bahamas.

PULSE, a three-fold exhibition, centered on Bahamian public art, asks us to pause in our everyday lives. This triad (livingPULSE, onePULSE, and naturesPULSE) reflects on the power of art in the public realm during the contemporary crisis of COVID-19 and other historical moments.

Refuge is an exhibition that was conceived to uplift and give space to visual artists and writers in The Bahamas affected by Hurricane Dorian, providing a space for reflection and community.

The NAGB is thrilled to announce the opening of the new ITE “Thirty: Island Life Perspectives”. The exhibition is named for the thirty inhabited islands of our archipelago of 700 islands and cays and celebrates our similarities while recognizing those things that create the juxtapositions between Family Island life and city life.

This year, campers explored the art and history of storytelling in The Bahamas and across the Caribbean diaspora under the theme “Ol’ Story: Folktales and Traditions”. The rich and vibrant history of teaching and entertaining with the spoken word is deeply entrenched in our culture.

The NAGB is thrilled to announce that Kendra Frorup’s Mid-Career Show, “The Whimsical Collector”, will engage viewers with a body of work that spans a robust practice from 1989- present with a new collaborative installation, that the artist is engaging with the Bahamian community, opens on March 24th, 2022.

The NAGB is thrilled to announce the 10th NE, “MERCY”, is another opportunity for conversation and for dialogue that is inclusive, highly participative, respectful and courageous; a renewed dialogue on how we are shaping our future, opens on October 6th, 2022.

The Inter-Island Traveling Exhibition (ITE) comes to you – virtually!

“Evolution of the Arc” is an Open Call Exhibition, in a spirit of partnership between The Salus Project and the NAGB.

Double Dutch brings together artists from the region and diaspora to produce provocative bodies of work through collaboration and exchange.

The NAGB is thrilled to announce that Lynn Parotti’s solo show, “INHERIT THE EARTH,” which examines the effects humans are having on the earth through her stunning canvases, opened on April 15th, 2021.

“Floating Rib” is a look at the experience and practice of Black women of The Bahamas working in the diaspora, exploring roots, bodies and belonging, homecomings and goings.

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.

“Medicine & Memory: Public Health in The Bahamas”, begins to unpack practices around healing and medicine (of both the pharmaceutical and bush variety) in The Bahamas.

The Permanent Exhibition (PE) at The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) is an annual exhibition focused on displaying the National Collection and, at times, supported by works from prominent private collections including, but not limited to, the D’Aguilar Art Foundation Collection, The Dawn Davies Collection and other private collections.

Sue Katz has been living and working in The Bahamas for 28 years. Her roots may have originated in the US, but they now find themselves firmly planted here in The Bahamas.

Averia Wright presents “Straw Paradox: The Pig that Built His House of Straw” in the NAGB Project Space her following her moving works for the National Exhibition 9 “The Fruit and The Seed”, “Elevating the Blue Light Special.” Drawing from tradition and her family’s history, Wright will explore the legacy of straw works and its relationship to the Bahamian tourism industry.

Our society is ever changing from the influence of America and our growing tourism industry, and in turn, the perception of masculinity is one of those aspects that is transforming, albeit, ever slightly within our culture.

The Visual Life of Social Affliction seeks to grapple with the ways in which Caribbean visual practice critically engages long-standing experiences of social suffering

The Visual Life of Social Affliction seeks to grapple with the ways in which Caribbean visual practice critically engages long-standing experiences of social suffering.

The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas invites you to the exhibition opening reception and awards ceremony for our Mixed Media Art Summer Camp on Thursday, August 1st, 2019, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. We begin in Fiona’s Theatre then move to the Project Space Room where the exhibit will be on display.

Whether you’re born here or a transplant, the Bahamian landscape has been a more than willing muse to many an artist over the years, including the likes of Hildegarde Hamilton, Eddie Minnis, Chan Pratt, and more, artist John Paul Saddleton (J.P.) is in good company.

The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas is proud to present a collection of new paintings by interdisciplinary artist Tessa Whitehead. Her first solo exhibition in The Bahamas titled “…there are always two deaths” catalogues the artist’s observations of the landscape, everyday life, and the inner working of nature in conjunction with the sacred feminine.

The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas brings to life a collection of over 110 works from the master Bahamian artist, Chan Pratt. We celebrate Pratt’s life and creativity posthumously in “Resurrection.” Working closely with Dewitt Chan Pratt, Chan’s son along with 20+ collectors across the archipelago we bring to life his story and ruminations on the landscape and honour the legacy of works left for study and record.

There are times when the dead send for us—at times they call to us in hushed tones, and at other times their screams are peppered with urgency. Sometime they come to us in the recognition of a familiar cadence whose origin we cannot quite recall or the eerie familiarity of a place on first arrival.

Avid Junkanoo practitioner, Carlos Bain, lights up the Project Space (PS) room for the month of December with a refreshing take on the traditional elements of the annual festival. Using crepe paper, bright colours, organic shapes and the congregation and crowds in the festivities, Bain advances and broadens the representations around Junkanoo and the connectivity of the spirit of communing together.

Lavar Munroe’s second chapter and continuing installation accompanying “Son of the Soil”, the artist’s 10-year survey is set to open on Thursday, November 1st, 2019 with a newly conceived installation of his 2016 – present project “Memorials” called “Return: The Magic Flight.”

The NAGB presents a solo exhibition in our Project Space Room by Jonathan Bethel titled “Elemental”. Opening on Thursday, November 1st, the showcase features luscious acrylic paintings celebrating the unspoilt and nostalgic beauty of The Bahamas.

The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) is proud to premiere it’s second inter-island travelling exhibition, Trans: A Migration of Identity in Andros! A week of exciting activities is planned, where the entire community – young and old – will be engaged in the creation and appreciation of Bahamian art.

The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas is proud to announce that its “Open Call for Potcakes” received over 40 submissions.

The “Double Dutch” series supports the concept of bringing together local and regional artists, irrespective of where they are currently resdiding, to work with a group of ideas personal, political and otherwise crucial to the development of a contemporary Bahamian identity.

This year campers went “Back to da Island” as we explored indigenous Bahamian crafts like straw work, basket weaving, shellcraft, wood carving and much more, in traditional and not so traditional ways, all while learning the stories from and the histories of the islands where these different crafts originated.

On Tuesday, July 3rd, the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas will showcase a collection of works for the first time by established and seasoned woodturner, Robin Hardy. The exhibition will include approximately 15 pieces that move between functional, practical and aesthetic objects including his infamous bowls.

In collaboration with the British Council, the NAGB will present the exhibition “We Suffer to Remain” featuring the evocative video installation “The Slave’s Lament” by Scottish artist, Graham Fagen in tandem with visual responses by Bahamian artists Sonia Farmer, Anina Major and John Beadle.

On March 22nd through July 29th, The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas presents the first of two historical surveys exhibitions that include works produced from 1856-1960 by visiting artists and expatriates, who were inspired by the then-colony’s landscapes, people, luminescence, coastlines and seas and bustling lifestyles.

How exactly does depression feel? What occupies one’s thoughts? How does one reconcile the demands and reality of daily life with the mind being in a constant emotional ebb and flow? In “A Self Portrait” emerging Bahamian artist, Drew Weech, aims to provide – through both painting and sculpture – a window into what it’s like to struggle with depression by presenting a body of work which vacillates between both the ephemeral and the perpetual aspects of the disorder.

Frances “Peggy” Jones has been expressing herself with acrylic paints since 1967, when she emigrated to The Bahamas and became comfortable with painting as an amateur artist. Without any formal instruction or classes, she became acquainted with the medium by convening with other women in Nassau who shared similar interests. They frequently met to share information on their passions, preoccupations and affections.

To many the Bahama Islands, which spread southeastward from the east coast of Florida, symbolize enjoyment- a place to unwind and experience “sun and fun”. As a result, it is not uncommon for tourists to actually forget that these small bits of land are indeed their own distinct country; one, though populated by a people whose history has been greatly affected by proximity to America, is quite unlike it.

Empathy keeps the horse from becoming a sacrificial capital object. This is a gesture to preserve the sacred. We must not break the skin of the animal. Though I can surrender to the illusion of my own death as a gift. We see our humanity in animals and in return they heal us.

From December 14th, 2017 through March 11th, 2018, The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas will present a survey of contemporary works that define and interrogate the critical edge of the birth and development of The Bahamas as a monolithic conservative Christian country.

The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB), in collaboration with the Bahamas Tourism Board and the French Arts Factory, is proud to present the exhibition “Baham’Art en Seine” featuring six prominent Bahamian artists including Chantal Bethel, Stan Burnside, Claudette Dean, Thierry Lamare, Toby Lunn and Max Taylor, on view at the French Art Factory from December 11th – 17th, 2017.

Re: Encounter brings together Dominican-born, New York-based artist Joiri Minaya and Bahamian artist Dede Brown, who have developed new works that continue the trajectory of their practices that speak towards issues of being postcolonial subjects.

Emerging Bahamian photographer, Melissa Alcena will present a collection of 20 photographs focusing on the Black Bahamian and Caribbean male as a central subject and the issues around representation, exile, displacement and becoming.

NAGB’s Education Department, in collaboration with its Curatorial Department, created a traveling exhibition featuring two master artists of The Bahamas, Maxwell Taylor and Amos Ferguson.

“Those from Shallow Waters” is a collection of shorts about the inhabitants of The Bahamas (derived from the Spanish “baja mar,” meaning shallow seas).

We invite you to the opening of our Mixed Media Art Summer Camp Exhibition 2017: “A Journey Through Time: Telling Our Story with Art” on Tuesday, August 1st starting at 6 p.m..

“Of Skin and Sand,” brings together Jamaican artist Leasho Johnson and Bahamian artist Edrin Symonette who have developed individual projects that speak towards issues of gender constructs, masculinity and sexuality within a Black Caribbean context.

On Thursday, June 22nd starting at 6 p.m., the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas will introduce emerging Bahamian artist and acclaimed RISD student Gabrielle Banks’ body of work ‘The Mark of a Woman’ in the Project Space Room through the end of July.

The National Art Gallery of the Bahamas is proud to welcome and continue our ongoing partnership with the University of The Bahamas Art Programme. Under the guidance of Associate Professor and artist Heino Schmid, the selection this year welcomes two emerging Long-Island artists and budding educators, Blake Fox and Shanteena Simms.

“Übersee: Cuba and The Bahamas: Contemporary Art from the Caribbean” features the work of 38 Bahamian and Cuban artists whose work continue to confront ideas around consumption, tourism, economies, utopia and complex identities connected to the landscape and bodies.

Painter and transplant Thierry Lamare has called The Bahamas his home for almost thirty years. Over that period, he has become a keen observer of the Bahamian landscape, its people, customs, and traditions, some of which are slowly fading, others shifting quickly like the dying light which he captures so evocatively.

Participating NE8 artist, Edrin Symonette’s exhibition Residues of a Colonial Past will be on view at the NAGB from March 23rd – April 16, 2017, with a preview evening on March 31st to coincide with Transforming Spaces 2017.

The new permanent exhibition, Revisiting An Eye for the Tropics, reconsiders both the National Collection and local private collections in regards to the colonial gaze and our post-colonial lives today, and features the work of over 20 artists.

NAGB’s Education Department, in collaboration with its Curatorial Department, created a traveling exhibition featuring two master artists of The Bahamas, Maxwell Taylor and Amos Ferguson.

As a component of the National Exhibition 8, the PS Room will house three special projects and this month we continue with Abaco based artist Attila Feszt’ “Fake Plastic Trees” which will be on view from February 21 through March 19, 2017.

As a component of the National Exhibition 8, the PS Room will house three special projects starting with Jeffrey Meris’ “Asue” 20/20″ from January 21 through February 12, 2017.

In Bethel’s Holey Space, we honor the matriarch, goddess, Atabey as she hunts, gathers, protects and glistens like gold in the shine of the sun. She is unmovable; the heroine, mother and the center of her parable.

The observer and the observed features work by Jamaican artist Deborah Anzinger and Bahamian artist Heino Schmid, each of them exploring ideas around representation, the body and how the gaze in effect changes ideas of relation, security, eroticism and social awareness.

Canadian-born, Nassau-based artist of twenty-five years, K Smith attributes his skill and artistic aptitude to the fact that his talent is generational. Passed on through generations, this ancestral understanding of creativity, attention to detail and innate skill has led him over the course of his 40-year practice, to create some of the most technical hyper-realistic images in graphite and colour pencil in the Bahamas.

The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) will host an exhibition displaying the results of a three year collaboration among the Government of The Bahamas, the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) and Harvard University Graduate School of Design. The research project was formed to facilitate the design and management of a more sustainable future for Exuma, and The Bahamas more generally.

The Colour and the Shape will investigate the correlations between Bahamian artist Kendra Frorup and US-based, Puerto Rican artist Gabriel Ramos’ understanding and representation of cultural identity and its connection to childhood and growing up in the tropics.

Figuration deals with interpretations of bodies and figures in space. Abstraction as a concept holds no concern in reproducing reality. Ironic then, when each of these seemingly disparate ideas and styles are paired with both painting and photography in relation to their respective difficult and warring histories as documentative mediums.

Art Supply Drive 2016 In August 2013, Doongalik Studios Art Gallery and The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas launched an annual community service initiative aimed at bridging the financial gap for art students attending government high schools in the country.

EN MAS’: Carnival and Performance Art of the Caribbean explores the influences of Carnival on performance art in the Caribbean, North America, and Europe and considers the connections between masquerade and political criticism, spectacularity and social invisibility, and public space and national citizenship.

Inspired by the iconic story that we came to know during our formative years, Pratt takes us on a sprawling look at the largeness of the birth of the universe and humanity. Using colour fields splattered with dark rich hues, he manages to evoke the expansive and transcendent nature of energies and life.

“From Columbus to Junkanoo” highlights the growth and divergence of Bahamian art beyond last century. We hope the showcase will challenge perspectives and assumptions and present a comprehensive representation of the different elements of the Bahamian story internally and with the world at large.

On the grounds of the NAGB, artist and entrepreneur Candis Marshall has created a spiritual and intoxicating environment for viewers to rest, recover and intervene with during the opening weekend of Transforming Spaces. Marshall’s “A Garden of Dreams” incorporates a garden of dream catchers that encircle a medicine wheel.

The NAGB was pleased to present ‘R. Brent Malone: Reincarnation’ – a retrospective exhibition spanning the entire gallery, which featured more than 250 paintings, drawings, prints and sculptural pieces by late artist Brent Malone.

Double Dutch brings together artists from the region to produce provocative bodies of work through collaboration and exchange. The first project of its kind sanctioned by the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, the project works against ideas of nationalism and the insularity of our creative environs by creating a safe space to explore regional culture and our creative acumen and sensibilities.

The first project of its kind sanctioned by the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas to bring artists from the region together, the launch of the Double Dutch project is inarguably historic.

The visual art scene of The Bahamas during the 1970-1980s was pinpointed on depictions of idyllic scenes of charming tropical life and a sense of nostalgia for the past.

Starting with the extraordinarily talented Eddie Minnis, who was trained as an architect at McGill University (graduating with a BSc. in 1971) but is actually a self-taught painter, the exhibition will show his masterworks from the very early college years up to today and will also highlight the major works of both his daughters — Nicole Minnis Ferguson and Rosheanne Minnis Eyma — as well as his son-in-law, Ritchie Eyma.

On January 4th, 2014, At the age of 72, Mr. Winston “Gus” Cooper, one of the founders of The Valley Boys Junkanoo group, passed away at Princess Margaret Hospital. On April 15th, 2014, The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas opens a tribute show entitled, “The Ace of Spades – The Father of Modern Day Junkanoo,” curated by the well-known Bahamian artist, Mr. John Beadle

In the film installation “undercurrents”, Parotti finds a temporary reconciliation between strained dualities through a connecting factor in the globe’s landscape: the ocean.

The NAGB was pleased to present “Swan Song of the Flamingo”, a collaborative project that marries Kishan Munroe’s visual artistry with the work of other Bahamian and Cuban artists from various disciplines to create a boundary shattering program that shines a spotlight on painful period in Bahamian history: the sinking of HMBS Flamingo of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force fleet on May 10, 1980.

Mudda Sick, The Bahamian Landscape, and Formal and Social for this year’s exhibition.

The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) is pleased to present to the viewing public 40 Years of Bahamian Art, an exhibition that offers an overview of the development of art in The Bahamas from 1973, the year of Bahamian Independence, to the present.

Form Versus Function Features 5 artists and quilters. Includes an artist from Grand Bahama. 9 pieces are on display featuring a variety of techniques, fabric selections and bead work.

Artwork by a single artist, John Beadle. Exhibition explores issues concerning security within your own homeland.

The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas is proud to introduce its new Educational venture: Art Children of The Bahamas (ACB).

Features from Photography Workshops at the NAGB with Scharad L. Pictures from the 2 workshops. Features artwork from the students!

A Retrospective Exhibition of “Happy Birthday To Me” featuring the work of Bahamian Master Artist Kendal Hanna.

Exhibition features over 158 pieces by Amos Ferguson, over 30+ years. Bahamian Outsider starts in the Ballroom and continues across the hall into the second floor of the Main Gallery.

Passage has a wide opening and narrows as it nears the exit, making a personal and uncomfortable experience for the visitor. Created for Transforming Spaces 2012 by artist, Jeffrey Meris.

The NAGB is thrilled to announce the 10th NE, “MERCY”, is another opportunity for conversation and for dialogue that is inclusive, highly participative, respectful and courageous; a renewed dialogue on how we are shaping our future, opens on October 6th, 2022.

The National Exhibition 9 “The Fruit and the Seed” opened on Thursday, December 13th, 2018 and will run through March 31st, 2019.

Featuring the work of thirty-one professional Bahamian artists, The Fourth National Exhibition officially opened on Tuesday, July 8, 2008.

The NE7 calls on visual and literary artists to engage with these complex ideas of self, and how they have been affected by social and racial codes, complex histories and global convergences that are seeking to determine representation and meaning.

Featuring the work of thirty-one professional Bahamian artists, The Fourth National Exhibition officially opened on Tuesday, July 8, 2008.

Featuring the work of thirty-one professional Bahamian artists, The Fourth National Exhibition officially opened on Tuesday, July 8, 2008.

Featuring the work of thirty-one professional Bahamian artists, The Fourth National Exhibition officially opened on Tuesday, July 8, 2008.

The Second National Exhibition was held in 2004. It was decided that the biennial National Exhibition should feature the best of Bahamian art produced within the past two years.

The Second National Exhibition was held in 2004. It was decided that the biennial National Exhibition should feature the best of Bahamian art produced within the past two years.

The Inaugural National Exhibition is of particular significance for The Bahamas as it brings together the best of Bahamian art created since our independence in 1973.