John Beadle Archives - National Art Gallery of The Bahamas

We Live at the Undersides

17 September 2019 Natalie Willis

Resilience in the era of climate crisis and finding the fraternity in loss after Hurricane Dorian. Two years ago, I wrote an article on the impact of Hurricane Irma on the loss of cultural material and the devastation of the landscape, lamenting the single death we sustained here, how we “lost two cultures that day”. I spoke about how many of us, in light of the nature of our dotted, disparate geography, felt the smallest sigh of relief that the more inhabited islands of New Providence and Grand Bahama were not hit, though it did little to soothe the loss of life and property in the Southern Bahamas. This year, I write about another Category 5 storm. This year I write about such heart-piercing loss of life that it’s hard to contemplate how much material loss there is. This year, I write about what happened to one of those “more inhabited” islands, the island I have called home for most of my life, and how the culture and people I grew up with Grand Bahama are underwater, and Abaco all but washed away.

Troubling Narratives: This is how we suffer to remain

8 June 2018 admin

“We Suffer to Remain” is a collaborative exhibition whose seed was sprouted in November 2015, when I was invited to be a part of a curatorial cohort that visited Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland, as a part of the British Council expanding and investing in the emerging and burgeoning visual art ecology in the Caribbean. This meeting set an idea in motion about how institutions in the Caribbean can start thinking in new ways about partnerships and collaborations that, 20 years ago, might not have been possible. The Caribbean as a creative space continues to flourish in its liminality, continues to grow and inspire globally as a cornerstone of excellence but, unfortunately, also continues to be a perpetual site of extraction, exhaustion and removal. Perhaps one needs to be alone with these words to understand the gravitas and the generational weight of our inheritance.

Beadle, the Mechanic: An Interview with John Beadle on his work for “We Suffer To Remain”, part II

26 March 2018 Natalie Willis

By Natalie Willis. Last week we heard John Beadle speak to his participation in “We Suffer To Remain”, an exhibition in collaboration with the British Council. The works produced in “We Suffer To Remain”–the Bahamian leg of a 4-part journey of the British Council’s “Difficult Conversations” series of exhibitions– serve as Caribbean response to Scottish artist Graham Fagen’s work, “The Slave’s Lament”. Shown at the Venice Biennale in 2015 as a representation for Scotland in the global art biennial, and choosing to uncover the country’s complicit nature in the Slave trade and the general amnesia surrounding Britain with their role and repercussions in chattel slavery – there is more to this work than meets the eye. Here is a not-so-difficult conversation with Beadle.

Majority rule: A snapshot of our identity.

15 January 2018 Natalie Willis

By Dr Ian Bethell-Bennett. The Bahamas, according to the discourse, is a Black country. Majority Rule was established in 1967 and, since then, the language of nationalism has been extremely narrow, exclusive and definitive. Before the power of the majority was inculcated into the halls of Parliament, the language was very different, and usually overlooked the Black population, except as inferior subordinates. However, the face of The Bahamas, while changing, has changed little when seen through messages deployed through art. Yes, art has evolved and developed. The understanding that the Majority are people too, after the end of slavery and the permitting of souls into Black folk was not as earth shattering as one might have expected. The artistic document, though, speaks of differences and similarities of seeing and unseeing that depends little on one’s majority or minority status, but rather on the depth and wealth of one’s artistic practice. Many artists chose to include the more comprehensive and complete vision and voice of The Bahamas. Some chose to ignore or exclude. The nationalist discourse chose to do the latter.

In Memoriam: Deon Dario McHardy aka Slime (1976-2017). The Bahamas loses another artistic talent.

9 January 2018 Natalie Willis

By Amanda Coulson. On December 13th, 2017, The Bahamas lost another creative soul. Unlike Jackson Burnside, Ronnie Butler, Amos Ferguson or Cleophas Adderley—to name only a few of the wonderful talents we have lost in the last decade—the death of Deon “Slime” Mc Hardy went sadly comparatively unnoticed. Neither the broader art community nor the general public seemed to pay much attention. Yes, it was noted by some with expressions of grief; yes, there were “crying emoticons” and “thumbs down” on Facebook, but outside of the Junkanoo community – of which Deon was an integral part – there were no lengthy obituaries, no packs of public figures claiming him as a great Bahamian son, to be fêted after his passing (since we do not the most stellar job of value these creative people when they are living).

Boundaries, Borders and Brotherhood: “Proxemics: Personal Space/Commanding Stance” (2015) by John Beadle

4 October 2017 Natalie Willis

By Natalie Willis. By now, many of us who are denizens of the Bahamian art community can easily recognise the curlicue gate-covered figurations of John Beadle. He’s been a fixture in the art community for some time, but this certainly does not indicate any sense of being stagnant. Beadle shifts between media – painting, sculpture, installation – and the message is often rooted in Bahamian history and culture. The series of cardboard and mixed media assemblages he makes using the patterning of metal gates that are ubiquitous, can be seen all over Nassau and the rest of the country. We are a space that is very much determined by borders – national, personal and private. But who do we block from access? And why

“John Beadle’s Row Yah Boat: Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily life is but a dream.’ Wake up!” by Natascha Vazquez

14 March 2017 Natalie Willis

Our intern, graduate student Natascha Vazquez writes: John Beadle was born in 1964 on the island of New Providence in The Bahamas. He received his BFA and MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and the Tyler School of Art of Temple University respectively. Beadle delves into various art genres, including painting, printmaking, sculpture and installation. Often, his highly conceptual work consists of everyday materials such as wood, found objects or metal. According to Beadle, “Material – the found, already weathered stuff carries with it a fragmented narrative that makes for very interesting placement possibilities.”

Civil Engagement as Culture: Unearthing Voices

19 December 2016 admin

Our culture, as long as we wish it to be, is alive in those feet that pound the streets because they do not have cars, in the rubber that heads north every morning and south every night to earn money to survive. The fear of suffering is as strong as the possibility of death by silence, though silence kills like cancer that eats away at our fibre and when we are asked, who do we think we are? What dare we answer?

Enigmatick Funktification: Applying collaborative Junkanoo processes to painting

7 January 2015 admin

Jackson Burnside, Stanley Burnside and John Beadle, Enigmatick Funktification (Detail), 1996. Acrylic on canvas, 52.75'' x 151''. National Collection. It’d be rather difficult to explore

Feature from the National Collection: Emancipation Day Boat Cruise

1 December 2011 Natalie Willis

The sight of colorful faces, the rock of the music, and the sway of the boat with a boisterous, energetic crowd are all felt in John Beadle’s Emancipation Day Boat Cruise. Viewing this piece is an experience in and of itself. The analogous colors of reds, oranges and yellows are aptly applied across the canvas. The painting also includes elements of drawing, collage and quilting.