Contingent of Bahamian artists create Rolling Out magazine cover for Real Housewives of Atlanta star

by Fusion IMC

Bahamian fashion maestro Theodore Elyett crescendos again and lands the cover of Rolling Out magazine, outfitting the glowing mom-to-be and Real Housewives of Atlanta star Porsha Williams in a yellow, off-the-shoulder maternity gown.

Porsha was photographed this winter during her baby-moon vacation in The Bahamas. The image, captured by Bahamian celebrity photographer Stanley Babb, shows Porsha cradling her baby bump in Elyett’s flattering gown, featuring handmade floral applique along the plunging neckline, sequin inserts on the torso and his signature bishop sleeve with pleated cuff. The material for the gown was donated by Commonwealth Fabrics.

“This was a case of opportunity knocking, and I stepped up to the plate! Stanley contacted me about the project, and I had a lead time of 24-hours to construct the gown for Porsha. I immediately accepted the challenge and got to work,” stated Elyett. “Was it easy? Not at all, but I knew that it would be an amazing opportunity for my brand to gain additional traction on the international stage. Porsha has a huge following, so I knew that I made the right decision [...]

CLICK HERE for full article at The Bahamas Weekly.

Berlin publisher announces new book by Bahamian photographer

A new book entitled “Fading Beauty” featuring the sumptuous photography of internationally acclaimed Bahamian photographer Dale Grant will be released by Berlin-based publishing house Kerber in June 2019.

Dale Grant’s Fading Beauty is a collection of photographs capturing the distinctive features which flowers display during their life cycle. Flowers all begin life looking rather similar, but it is at the moment when they begin to wither and after some time die, that their true individual beauty can be witnessed as the vivid colors of their petals eventually become transparent and muted in tone. Grant sees his images of flowers as portraits and in this direction he sets out to explore life’s uniqueness and constant change.

Transforming Spaces 2019 opens in April

Transforming Spaces (TS) 2019 is gearing up for its annual art bus tour that will be taking place on Saturday and Sunday, April 6 and 7. Slated to be another inspiring art event, this year’s theme “Sustainability – I Have A Dream – I Am the Dream – We are the Dream” is already bearing fruit.

The Bahamian genius behind ‘Primitive ‘ art

Sir Christopher Ondaatje describes “an extreme experience’ with the artist Melissa Maura, and writes about the exotic fantasies and artists which have inspired this much loved Bahamian artist.

by Sir Christopher Ondaatje

About a year ago, I was walking across the submerged flats on Hog Cay off the north-western tip of Long Island the island paradise owed by Peter Graham, a well-known Bahamian lawyer and his family. Well, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. The so-called “flats” were nothing of the kind. They were uneven pot holes and sometimes deeper quicksand type cavities under about two feet of water. Every step was a hazard and it was extremely difficult to hold my footing. What was worse, I was starting to panic and wondered whether I would ever get to the safety of the shore.

Melissa Maura is a very talented and much loved Bahamian artist who was born on February 7, 1956 in Nassau at the Princess Margaret Hospital. She went to St Andrew’s School then on Shirley Street opposite the editorial offices of The Tribune. In 1973, her parents put her into Oriel School in Cheltenham, England, then back to Nassau, and then to London where she attended the Heatherley School of Fine Art for a year, taking life drawing classes and learning etching and anatomy an essential grounding for anyone seriously interested in painting figures, both human and animal. [...]

CLICK HERE for full article on pg 20 of The Tribune Weekend.
CLICK HERE for video featuring artist Melissa Maura.

Interview with Bahamian actor & voice artist Ron Butler

by Chandra Sparks Splond

Bahamian actor, producer and narrator Ron Butler has been fortunate to land his dream job when it comes to audiobook narration.

Tell me a little about yourself and how you got into book narration.
RB: I’m originally from The Bahamas, and my father (Calypso singer/songwriter Ronnie Butler) was the number one recording artist there for over six decades; my American mother is a ballroom dancer. Although I grew up dabbling in the arts, it wasn’t until several years after college that I moved to New York to become an actor with the Atlantic Theater Company. My career in New York City was mostly off-Broadway plays and musicals (the off-Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along was a favorite). I also did some regional theater (Death of a Salesman at Missouri Rep, and Big River at Alabama Shakespeare Festival were some favorites). After a role in the HBO movie Everyday People, I moved to Los Angeles and focused mainly on film and television. I spent a decade guest starring on dozens of shows, and had the good fortune of being a regular on True Jackson, VP for all three seasons.

A few years ago, a colleague of mine asked if I’d be interested in audiobooks—the industry was expanding and there was a need for more narrators of color. I love to read, (I mean, I really love it!), and I like to talk, so I thought, “dream job.” As it turned out, I had a unique combination of skills and background that equipped me to be a narrator. I absolutely love it, and I’ve been fortunate enough to perform titles in almost every genre. It’s incredibly fulfilling.

Tell me about your most recent project.
RB: My most recent project was a collection of short stories called “Black Enough.” Geared toward young adults, the stories follow black teenagers who love sci-fi/fantasy, 80s pop culture, heavy metal music, etc.—that is, they have interests and orientations that are often thought of as “not black.” I was excited to be a part of this project because it’s about inclusion and shaking things up; it’s a nuanced look at the broad spectrum of blackness in America.

CLICK HERE for full interview.

Reinventing the Box

Centrepieces capture culture of The Bahamas

by Jeffarah Gibson

‘Think outside of the box’ is a phrase that has been used so many times, by so many people in so many different situations that it has practically lost all its meaning.

So former Miss Exuma World October Johnson isn’t thinking outside of the box, she is reinventing it altogether.

The box shape, and The Bahamas’ number one cultural expression—Junkanoo—are the inspiration behind her new home décor company. The aptly named Junkanoo Box brand offers centrepieces made from 100% recycled materials.

The former pageant queen, who goes under the name Toby October, said she’s had passion for the arts since her childhood. “I have been interested in art since the age of five after creating cards and letters for my parents,” Toby told Tribune Weekend.

In 2011, she launched her first art company under the name The Mayflower Project, in honour of her mother, Anita Maycock Johnson, whom she said always been a great source of encouragement for her. [...]

CLICK HERE for full article on pg 14 of The Tribune Weekend.
CLICK HERE to visit the Junkanoo Box Facebook page.

NAGB’s Ninth National Exhibition:
The Weight We Bear

Heino Schmid’s monumental drawings for the NE9.

by Natalie Willis

• • •

This year’s National Exhibition (NE), “NE9: The Fruit and The Seed”, took time to cultivate, to bear fruit, and much care was taken in tending to the roots of art in The Bahamas. The NE serves as a thermometer or litmus test, a finger on the pulse of what is happening in our creative culture here. Of the 38 artists showing work, one particular “fruit” was very, very big indeed.

John Dunkley, an outsider artist deep in the heart of Jamaica

Long cherished in his homeland, the self-taught artist gets his first large museum survey. And the show is a revelation.

by Roberta Smith

The Jamaican visionary John Dunkley (1891-1947) is the latest artist to decimate the distinctions between self-taught and trained, outsider and insider and folk and not folk. The first large museum survey in the United States devoted to the work of this gifted autodidact is now at the American Folk Art Museum, after originating at the Pérez Art Museum Miami in 2017, with Diana Nawi, now an independent curator, heading the organizing team.

Containing several vivacious carved wood figures and more than 30 dense, luminous landscapes, the show is a revelation. As its subtitle accurately acknowledges, the canvases are seen by “Neither Day Nor Night,” but bathed in a third light, that of full moons, dreams or faith.

Dunkley, who has long been cherished in his homeland, is the second important self-taught Caribbean artist to be introduced here recently. He follows Frank Walter (1926-2009), whose work was shown by Hirschl & Adler at the 2017 Outsider Art Fair, on its way to representing Antigua at the Venice Biennale that year. While Walter sometimes pushed his landscapes to the brink of jewel-toned abstractions, Dunkley aligned the expressive powers of natural form and painted textures into a recognizable but uncanny, highly symbolic world. In stylization and mood, his efforts relate to the art of the American painters Edward Hicks, Albert Pinkham Ryder and Henri Rousseau. [...]

CLICK HERE for full article in The New York Times.

by James Charisma

When you imagine Hawaii, what do you think of? Perhaps hula girls dancing seductively at sunset, wearing grass skirts, coconut bras, and a flower lei? Or Waikiki beach boys in swim shorts, surfing peaks with Diamond Head looming behind them? Possibly a stone-faced tiki nestled alongside palm trees and a raging volcano?

You know the images I’m describing. Because for over a century, these exotic scenes of paradise were deliberately crafted by travel companies and ad agencies and widely circulated to shape a specific narrative about Hawaii. When the Matson shipping company — which had been hauling freight between the West Coast and Hawaii since 1882 — began expanding its tourism offerings in the early 20th century, they hired a San Francisco agency to create an extensive ad campaign of travel posters and memorabilia that depicted Hawaii as an alluring tropical fantasy. Through colorful, illustrated caricatures of “island life” and photographic prints of relaxing women and beach scenes by famous photographers, including Anton Bruehl and Edward Steichen, the imagery stuck. [...]

CLICK HERE for full article at Hyperallergic.

by Mariana Simões

On his second day in office, Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, delivered on a campaign promise that was backed with widespread support: dismantling the Ministry of Culture.

Mr. Bolsonaro has instead created an umbrella Ministry of Citizenship, which now covers sports, communications, social policy, and culture, all in one. Cultural affairs will be handled by the Special Secretary for Culture, a branch subordinated to the larger Ministry of Citizenship.

Vowing to cut back on public spending was a central part of Mr. Bolsonaro’s campaign, and he promised, in a live address on Facebook last October that if elected he would reduce the number of ministries from 29 to 15. After taking office on January 1, Mr. Bolsonaro rang in the new year with 22 ministries under his belt. [...]

CLICK HERE for full story at Hyperallergic.

Lagos, City of Hustle, builds an Art ‘Ecosystem’

Fascinating article on West Africa’s new art destination—Lagos—a sprawling megacity with a generation of artists, gallerists and collectors powering the scene.

by Siddhartha Mitter

Cars snaked out from the hideous traffic and deposited the city’s elite, dressed to impress, at the Civic Center, a concrete-and-steel edifice fronting Lagos Lagoon. Women exuding Vogue beauty and power paused on the patio to give television interviews.