National Exhibition 9: The Fruit and the Seed
A socially curious project, 鈥淭he Fruit and the Seed鈥� centres around how artists are working to define their space and experiences. Whether it be through the lens of race, gender, parity and class as a way to clarify cultural, social and aesthetic decisions, the art-making process is used as a tool to bring to the fore ideologies on activism and advocacy, leading to a more empathetic and understanding culture. In July 2018, The National Art Gallery of the Bahamas (NAGB) issued a call for works for the ninth National Exhibition, more affectionately referred to as the NE9. The call which solicited over 100 submissions, presented under the theme 鈥淭he Fruit and the Seed,鈥� resonated as a socially unique project, centring around how artists are working to define their space and experiences.
鈥淭he Fruit and the Seed鈥� is an acknowledgement of the binaries in which we exist, paying attention to the fertile creative space we inhabit, its nuances, contradictions and complexities. The analogy of the fruit and seed conjure up very explicit things鈥攆rom the religious and poetic, to the agency around cultivation and harvest, possibility and outcome. The fragile nature of our ecologies in the age of climate change and the Anthropocene is calling for a radical shift in how we tend to our ground and lives. As the world around us contracts and becomes more conservative, populist and reactionary, we see the conversations that art provokes as a way to negotiate, to understand and to find commonalities. We also see these conversations as a way to demystify social stigmas and to unfix the dogmas that keep our humanity and compassion from being a part of the broader national and global dialogues.
So here we turn to the many untold stories that lay nascent but ready within our culture, the secrets and fears, the achievements and triumphs, to break old habits and welcome a new awareness of self and others. With contributions from 38 artists, performers, writers and academics, the NE9 presents a vibrant and dynamic series of programming events including a main exhibition across the upper galleries, artists talks, readings, screenings, performances, education workshops and panels through the end of March 2019. We invite you to stay with the work, to seek out the questions at the centre of these practices and to find answers that resonate and uplift you.
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A socially curious project, 鈥淭he Fruit and the Seed鈥� centres around how artists are working to define their space and experiences. Whether it be through the lens of race, gender, parity and class as a way to clarify cultural, social and aesthetic decisions, the art-making process is used as a tool to bring to the fore ideologies on activism and advocacy, leading to a more empathetic and understanding culture. In July 2018, The National Art Gallery of the Bahamas (NAGB) issued a call for works for the ninth National Exhibition, more affectionately referred to as the NE9. The call which solicited over 100 submissions, presented under the theme 鈥淭he Fruit and the Seed,鈥� resonated as a socially unique project, centring around how artists are working to define their space and experiences.
鈥淭he Fruit and the Seed鈥� is an acknowledgement of the binaries in which we exist, paying attention to the fertile creative space we inhabit, its nuances, contradictions and complexities. The analogy of the fruit and seed conjure up very explicit things鈥攆rom the religious and poetic, to the agency around cultivation and harvest, possibility and outcome. The fragile nature of our ecologies in the age of climate change and the Anthropocene is calling for a radical shift in how we tend to our ground and lives. As the world around us contracts and becomes more conservative, populist and reactionary, we see the conversations that art provokes as a way to negotiate, to understand and to find commonalities. We also see these conversations as a way to demystify social stigmas and to unfix the dogmas that keep our humanity and compassion from being a part of the broader national and global dialogues.
So here we turn to the many untold stories that lay nascent but ready within our culture, the secrets and fears, the achievements and triumphs, to break old habits and welcome a new awareness of self and others. With contributions from 38 artists, performers, writers and academics, the NE9 presents a vibrant and dynamic series of programming events including a main exhibition across the upper galleries, artists talks, readings, screenings, performances, education workshops and panels through the end of March 2019. We invite you to stay with the work, to seek out the questions at the centre of these practices and to find answers that resonate and uplift you.
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