C O N C E R T / S E R I E S :

The Nassau Music Society presents:
Spring 2018 Concert Series

There’s something for everyone! The Nassau Music Society’s concerts this season feature a talented and diverse line-up of musicians ranging from Latin guitar and a string trio, to steel pan and classical piano, all performed in exciting venues with special offers to make for a great night out.

For the first time the NMS is offering its members the option to purchase season ticket packages. FOUR DIFFERENT CONCERTS FOR $125.

Call 322-7427 or email nassaumusicsociety@coralwave.com to make your purchase. Credit cards are accepted. We do expect some concerts to sell out quickly, so get your Season Ticket Package today to secure your seats!

CLICK HERE for Nassau Music Society website.
CLICK HERE for Nassau Music Society Facebook page.

Bahamian artist in two US exhibitions

The luscious work of Bahamian artist Tiffany Smith is featured in two group exhibitions currently on view — one in Boston and the other in New York.

The Boston exhibition is entitled “Legacy of the Cool: A Tribute To Barkley L. Hendricks” at the Bakalar & Paine Galleries at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. This exhibition is a tribute to the legacy of the famed African American artist Barkley L. Hendricks’ and a celebration of new generations of figurative artists of color. Many of these artists work in the same spirit as Hendricks and portray themselves; their friends, families, and communities; and the complexities of their lives in captivating and thought-provoking images. Through varied media and diverse approaches, they chronicle the present moment and their work often questions dominant cultural narratives and addresses important contemporary issues. The exhibition will be on view from January 17, 2018 to Saturday, March 3, 2018.

The New York exhibition is entitled “ Citizen: An American Lyric” at the Dr. M. T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery at St. Johns University in Jamaica, New York. Citizen is a multifaceted art and literary project that features twenty artists whose work illuminates the concerns expressed by celebrated author Claudia Rankine in her book-length-poem of the same title. The exhibition investigates the relentless racism of daily life that renders many “citizens” invisible. The exhibition will be on view from Monday, January 15 through Sunday, March 14, 2018.

Tiffany Smith is a visual artist who uses photography, video, design, and installation to create conceptually based work focused on identity, cultural ambiguity, and representation; particularly within minority communities. Her work examines individual narratives pulled from an array of multi­cultural influences, derived from her upbringing between Miami, Florida, Nassau, Bahamas, and Jamaica, and molded by her current home of Brooklyn, NY. Smith’s practice searches for new perspectives on dominant historical narratives and aims to provide insight into issues surrounding communities and how they are formed, defined, and identified.

CLICK HERE for “Legacy of the Cool” exhibition page.
CLICK HERE for “Citizen” exhibition page.
CLICK HERE for more about artist Tiffany Smith.

Majority rule:
A snapshot of our identity

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.

For the last few weeks, this column has focused on the identity as demonstrated, discussed and shown through the exhibition “Medium,” currently on at the NAGB. That show articulates a side of identity and reality that is often elided or erased notwithstanding the shift form minority rule to a majority takeover, which disregards the entire premise of postcolonial empowerment of the folk, as Rex Nettleford might have argued. His folk have been excluded, though spoken for, through electoral representation and majority “empowerment.” In fact, artists who capture the nuanced realities of Over-the-Hill and the interactions between the ‘two worlds,’ are few. The artists who traverse the lines between the splinter groups, of which there are many, that shift and tussle with this either white or Black identity, are few. Though, this is changing as new artists arise, and more seasoned artists see the chinks in the discourse that excludes entire swaths of country and people. The artists who stand firm in the new majority, though loudly unrecognised, are few when compared to the population that chooses to blinker these developments. [...]

CLICK HERE for full essay at NAGB’s website.

• When a loved one dies, always remember to be respectful.

• Always wear black for at least six months, then half-mourning is permissible for another six months.

• In Greece, they say, mourning can last a lifetime.

• Why spend a life mourning when death is a celebration?

• When the wind blows, close the windows, do not sweep at night because the good will be tossed out with the bad. [...]

Today, these sayings and customs have become associated with something other than Christianity and spirituality, though many people still fear walking past a graveyard at night. Most people refuse to remember the dream book that paved the way for a roof, a window, a car, when numbers were peddled illegally around Nassau by particular numbers men whom everyone knew, everyone named but no one challenged. Today, numbers are a staple, but gambling has lost its ‘original sin’ aspect, even though the legislation still holds it and other games of chance as being illegal. [...]

CLICK HERE for full essay at NAGB’s website.

Eric Jean-Louis (b. 1957) is an artist hailing from Haiti, well-known and much loved and it is easy to see why. His work is filled with the human and natural balance of light and dark, the duality we all struggle with and that we see in the world and in ourselves. Visually, his work packs a graphic punch with his style of shading blocks of dark and adding bright stripes and slivers of light – and they are really a stunning sight to behold. To those who find themselves cringing and shying away from the word Voodoo, as in the title of this piece “Ceremonie de Bois Cayman: The Voodoo Still Lives” (2007) by Jean-Louis, it would be remiss to deny and write off this practice of art and spirituality. There is light to be found in this form of spirituality, which is so often, and erroneously, deemed ‘dark magic’. As the current exhibition, “Medium: Practices and Routes of Spirituality and Mysticism” seeks to uncover the complexities of religious and spiritual practice in the region, so does this painting lay plain the crossovers and awkwardness of our relationship as Caribbean peoples to our African heritage. [...]

CLICK HERE to read full article at The Nassau Guardian.

Tru Tru Festival:
For a taste of Bahamian culture

The best of Bahamian culture will be showcased over two days for the first time, during the third annual Tru Tru Bahamian Festival. John Watling’s Distillery will be transformed into a Bahamian village featuring over 70 local vendors, including 20 food vendors, for the event on February 3 and 4.

Entertainment from the Junkanoo Commandos, a live performance from the Royal Bahamas Police Band, maypole plaiting, a kids’ corner and more are scheduled for the festival. Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) President Carlton Russell said the Tru Tru Bahamian Festival is about all things Bahamian.

“These are creative expressions that climax into beautiful art, tapestry, unique hand creations — all handcrafted in The Bahamas tailored from the treasure of national resources,” said Russell.

“The festival serves to promote and support the incredible wealth of talent that exists in The Bahamas as artisans, musicians, culinarians gather to showcase their every imaginable expression. This year we will enhance the past with the present and help everybody tell the story.” [...]

CLICK HERE for full story in The Nassau Guardian.