Galanis’ poignant documentation of Grants’ Town reveals the real seat of local black development, now an area where inequality thrives.
Galanis’ poignant documentation of Grants’ Town reveals the real seat of local black development, now an area where inequality thrives.
Taking over from our regular host, Dr. Ian Bethell-Bennett will be filling on the “Blank Canvas” to interview Charlotte Henay (left) and Dr. Angelique V. Nixon (right), who both have work in the current National Exhibition (N8), which this year includes not only visual artists but also writers and poets.
Bahamian women are often thought of as being outspoken, strong, ‘biggity’ – dare I say – and perhaps it is a result of this legacy of women who won’t suffer fools gladly, that has lead to women being painted in a less favourable light. But can we be blamed? After the referendum, it became clear that many of us felt less-than, and the women artists participating in the 8th National Exhibition (NE8) have made their voices heard. Particularly, emerging artists Jodi Minnis and a first-time National Exhibition participant, Cynthia Rahming.
Dr. Ian Bethell-Bennett pens an argument for supporting local creative production in “Made in The Bahamas: Authentic action, authentic support”
In the studio with Amanda, this week are agitators and researchers, Hilary Booker and Jon Murray, whose intellectual and research endeavours cross over with artistic practice, leaning into the area of what is now called “social sculpture.”
The recently opened 8th National Exhibition (NE8) contains much of the Bahamian art we’ve come to know and love over the years. We are a nation and a region with a very strong tradition of painting and wall-based work, which has expanded into the 3D realm, which we have also grown increasingly comfortable with accepting into our arsenal of Bahamian creative practice. But we also have grown into more expanded fields of engagement and display.
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?
This Wednesday’s “Blank Canvas” sees the beginning of a series of shows focussing on the participating artists in the new National Exhibition NE8, opening this Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. at Villa Doyle (NAGB) and Hillside House on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. The Eighth National Exhibition is an exhibition featuring the works of over 60 artists, facilitators, and poets, who were asked to create work that addressed their current thoughts and discourse as citizens of The Bahamas and the world
Recent events in the nation, perhaps most notably the We March protest that took place last week, showed that The Bahamas has begun to shake off the veil of apathy that we have slumbered under for what feels like too long. This year has been a belter for politics and people of all beliefs making their feelings known – for better or for worse. And, as art so often engages with the state of society, so it is that many of the submissions for the 8th National Exhibition (NE8) at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) were brash, bold, opinionated, and deeply political; reflecting how strongly so many of us feel after the various events of 2016.