After opening its grounds to over 60 eager Easter egg hunters, the
National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) welcomed two more young Bahamians
looking for a little more than sweet treats last week. C.V. Bethel seniors
Bradeisha Babbs and Lefred Rolle joined the NAGB team as interns over their
Easter break.
Though she is only 16,
Babbs has tried her hand at a number of art forms. She has long been interested
in the creative and designing fields and has hopes of becoming an architect.
“I got into art in
seventh grade,” she said. “I started at S.C. McPherson, and I began to really
like painting and coloring.”
Rolle, too, has been
developing his talents from an early age. He began practicing art in primary
school and has honed his talents at the National Art Gallery in the past as a
participant in the gallery’s 2013 art summer camp. While there, he learned the
art of printmaking from John Cox and explored Antonius Roberts’ nearby gallery
at Hillside House.
“I just find it
fascinating,” he explained. “I like experimenting with colors and the ways I
can use them in my work.”
Artwork of the
month
Despite developing her
artistic abilities in the classroom, Babbs had little familiarity with many of
the country’s prominent artists prior to her internship. John Beadle was one of
the names with which she became acquainted while at the gallery.
Beadle is known as one
of the foremost artists whose works became known among the post-independence
generation. Known for his work in the Junkanoo community, Beadle is a
well-respected Junkanoo designer. He is also recognized for his partnership
with brothers Jackson and Stan Burnside in the former Burnside-Beadle-Burnside group
and his work with Stan Burnside and Antonius Roberts in the current
Burnside-Beadle-Roberts collaboration. Influences of the Burnside brothers and
Junkanoo are heavily reflected in Beadle’s work, which also frequently responds
to issues related to citizenship, migration and slavery.
His painting “Mass
Transportation” is no exception to any of this. The piece occupies a wall in
the NAGB’s permanent exhibition, Bahamian Domestic, and reflects on the violence
of the slave trade and the kidnapping of Africans for the purposes of
production in the Americas. The somber work hangs in close proximity to
Beadle’s “Emancipation Day Boat Cruise”, an equally large painting notable for
its vibrant colors and celebratory dancing.
The latter work appears
a joyous one, commemorating emancipation with a boat cruise. However, the irony
of the imagery of Afro-Caribbeans packed onto a boat with hopes for a brighter
cannot be overlooked. The painting is intended to be considered alongside
knowledge of the perilous journeys regularly undertaken by thousands of
migrants who are in search of a better future in The Bahamas. Those who survive
the journeys and reach their destination are often subjected to marginalization
and discrimination upon arrival.
Elements of Junkanoo and
evidence of African heritage, particularly masks, are present in both works.
Drawn to Beadle’s
poignant juxtaposition of the slave trade and modern-day migration practices as
well as the linkage between African heritage and Caribbean culture, Babbs
selected “Mass Transportation” as one of the April artworks of the month.
“To me, it symbolizes
the struggles the slaves went through and how they died and were captured, as
well as how they felt. He uses the color red to show the blood that was lost
and the deaths that happened. It teaches you about history and our African
descent,” she explained.
Discussions about John
Beadle’s works often prove educational from both visual art and sociological
perspectives. Several of his pieces, including “Mass Transportation” and
“Emancipation Day Boat Cruise” can currently be found at the NAGB as part of
both Bahamian Domestic and the Seventh National Exhibition, Antillean: an
Ecology.
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