Chances are you’ve exchanged stories about your life experience with a group of friends at any informal gathering, but what about taking center stage to share them with the world?

Believing that everyone has a story to share, the Illiterati Story Slam is returning in 2020 to give a platform to the Bahamian cultural birthright of storytelling. Every month, performers are invited to take to the stage and share a story under the proposed theme for a chance to win a spot at the Grand Slam in December and compete alongside the best performers of the year for the Grand Prize of a published book.

Jazz at Jacaranda presents a very special line up of Jazz musical talents on Saturday, February 1st from 6pm to 9pm at Jacaranda House on Parliament Street in aid of Hurricane Dorian Relief for the Bahamas Humane Society.

Headlining the concert is Montreal-based, Bahamian Jazz songbird Anuschka Wright known to be one of The Bahamas’ best jazz singers. She will be accompanied by an international line-up of musicians including from Italy: Massimo Colombo on piano and Tommaso Starace on saxophone; and from Toronto is Anthony Michelli on drums. Musical Director is Bahamian jazz musician Adrian D’Aguilar who will be joined by talented Bahamian jazz musicians including Tino Richardson, Lamont Gibson, and others.

Please support this event in aid of the Bahamas Humane Society. Tickets are $125 per person and includes buffet dinner and wine. Space is limited, so please book your tickets now.

For tickets, please email: jacarandanassau@gmail.com.

CLICK HERE for event page.

Chantal Bethel’s work was featured in a remembrance and interfaith prayer gathering and exhibition at the Waterloo Center for the Arts in Iowa on the anniversary of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

In 2012, an installation of art created by Bahamian artist Chantal Bethel, in response to the January
10th, 2010 earthquake, was showcased in an exhibition entitled “POTO MITAN” at the D’Aguilar Art Foundation gallery in Nassau, Bahamas.

The Curator and Director of The D’Aguilar Art Foundation, Holly Parotti, wrote: “Chantal Bethel’s journey as a Bahamian artist and a native of Haiti moved her to go to Port-au-Prince so that she could physically appreciate the degree of destruction and human suffering. By channeling her experience through her artwork, Bethel has met the challenge of providing the viewer with a genuine perspective and heartfelt perception of the culture and the turmoil that she witnessed.”

Art Fort Lauderdale, presents Bahamas Haus, with a focus on contemporary art, Junkanoo culture and the significant Caribbean art influences from The Bahamas in a dedicated home within the waterway-based Art Fair.

by Andrew Martineau

Art Fair Fort Lauderdale, the Art Fair on the Water, celebrates its fourth year, January 23–26th and hosts Bahamas Haus, a unique art project and partnership with Ministry of Tourism Bahamas, sponsors and collectors Argus Advisors, legal, financial services provider and fine arts collection, based in Freeport.

In addition to waived fees for contributing artists and gallery partners, Art For Lauderdale will donate 10% of the art proceeds from Bahamas Haus to the rebuilding and art therapy efforts of The Grand Bahama Children’s Home, an orphanage and refuge for children in Freeport, recently flooded and forced to evacuate during Hurricane Dorian.

Curated by local arts writer and collaborator Jennifer Nayak, Bahamas Haus promotes the theme, “Resiliency of the Bahamian Spirit.” Telling a visual story of faith and inspiration, Bahamas Haus at Art Fort Lauderdale presents a range of mediums, including newly created, post-Hurricane Dorian recovery artwork by the most recognizable contemporary artists and galleries from Grand Bahama, Nassau and the USA.

“I want to provide collectors with little treasures they wouldn’t find unless they had their own local guide to the important work created in the Bahamas. Promoting Port Lucaya and Nassau gallery owners, with studios people can visit; educates an audience that’s already available and interested in experiencing Bahamian culture. When you know something more about the culture, it brings you closer to the islands we already love. Creating long term interest for investment pieces, promoting cultural tourism between both coasts. There’s more than one reason to love the Bahamas, for me it’s the people and the art,” says Jennifer Nayak, Curator Bahamas Haus. [...]

CLICK HERE for full story and list of artists participating at Medium.

New exhibition featuring five Bahamian artists looks at 2020

FOUR | FIVE is an exhibition series geared towards bringing multiple Bahamian contemporary art practices together to foster a greater sense of community, collaboration and visibility while documenting those practices and publishing literature that contextualizes them.

The inaugural FIVE exhibition curated by Jodi Minnis, In 2020, will open on Thursday, January 23rd, 2020 at Hillside House. In 2020 features artwork by Piaget Moss, Matthew Rahming, Edrin Symonette, Andrew Weech, and Averia Wright.

The purpose of FIVE is to appose distinct yet similar practices to create one resounding voice. This exhibition seeks to emphasize contemporary practices with underlying themes of the physical, labor, sustainability and industry. In 2020 considers notions around negotiation while looking at the orange economy and the prophecies set forth for this new decade.

Larry Neal, a cultural critic, playwright and leading member of the Black Arts Movement, expressed in his article Any Day Now: Black Art and Black Liberation, “We know that art alone will not liberate us. We know that culture as an abstract thing within itself will not give us self-determination and nationhood. And that is really all we want, even though we fail often to admit it openly. We want to rule ourselves.” Considering this, Minnis suggests, “In 2020, I want us to have expanded possibilities of who we can be and what we can accomplish outside of the models of neocolonialism given to us. Instead of continuously making lemonade out of lemons, let’s make something else...with different ingredients..maybe less sour ones.”

The exhibition runs from January 14th to February 23rd, 2020. For more information, please contact Jodi Minnis at jodi@jodiminnis.com.

CLICK HERE for event page.

Two Bahamian artists open 2020 with “Identity” exhibition

Doongalik Studios hosts their first exhibition of 2020 entitled “Identity” a show of new works by Bahamian artists Nowé Harris-Smith and Spurgeonique Morley on Friday, January 24 from 6-9pm.

The artists state that this exhibition was inspired by their growth as women and individuals. The overall theme is self-explorative as the works depict this growth, along with their emotions and existence as women. Harris-Smith’s work explores not only her experiences, but her identity as an androgynous woman, while Morley’s work explores personal standards that equate to beauty, sexuality, and an acceptance of oneself. The artists hope that this exhibition promotes self-acceptance and encourages others to express their realities. They also hope it gives viewers the confidence to live authentically.

In their artists’ statements, Morley desires to express her personal and artistic growth and to examine the important role it plays in the creation of her artwork which she hopes will nourish her audience. Although her works come from very emotional and personal experiences, she wants it to be relatable to all women, and to empower them. Morley ponders the fact that in life, women at some point have to grow through self love and acceptance of their own beauty.

Harris-Smith’s work is fueled by humanism within the environments she occupies. Her aim as a mixed media artist is to provide a platform for discussion in relatable contexts. Fascinated by bodies, life, and cultural practices within her diaspora, Harris-Smith captures fragments of everyday realities. Whether abstracted forms or realistic photographs, Harris-Smith’s work is driven by human perception and existence. She seeks to use her aesthetics to provide an outlook into the realm of human life. [...]

CLICK HERE for full story at The Bahamas Weekly.