The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

THE CENTRAL BANK added an honourable mention prize to its art competition in recognition of the “spectacular” work submitted for the exhibition this year. For the first time ever the bank awarded a first place prize along with an honourable mention. Bahamian artist Jeffrey Meris’ with his submission “Dis We Tea Party” and Keisha Oliver with “The Outcast” were the respective winners.

While Jeffrey was not present at the event, guests applauded his tea cup installation. The hand made tea cups were placed in a cream coloured cabinet.

“We thought there was a lot of care taken in developing his concept and it can be spread out in many different ways,” said PR Strategist Royann Dean, one of the judges of the competition.

Artists were encouraged to depict the theme “The Independents”, a direct reference to the 40th anniversary of independence.

“Artists are encouraged to embrace this opportunity of the theme of “The Independents” as a challenge in terms of material and/or the role and responsibilities of independent thinking in art in The Bahamas, as well as, thinking of the larger political symbolism of independence of the country.

By bringing these evolving personal, political and cultural landscapes to the forefront for greater discussion, the Central Bank of the Bahamas’ Art Gallery seeks to continue its mission to add to the expanding dialogue of art in the country.”

The winning entry earned a spot in the Permanent Collection of The Central Bank of The Bahamas. Jeffrey will receive a $7500 cash prize and an invitation for a solo exhibition in 2014. This year’s judges were Bahamian artist Artist Antonius Roberts, Royann Dean and Filmmaker Kareem Mortimer.
As the curator of the event, Bahamian artist Heino Schmid told Tribune Entertainment he was pleased with the participation this year.

“This is the fifth year of this competition, at least in this structure where it has been segmented for the high school and senior category. However, prior to that, this has been running for 25 years as a single competition. It has a really thorough history in the Bahamian creative culture,” said Heino.

As soon as the exhibition is taken down at the end of October, Heino said they will be talking about a new theme for next year and the ball will start rolling again.

Keisha’s photo collage displayed what looked like a black and white mug shot of a Bahamian man. The photo was mounted on a withered wooden board. However, looks can be deceiving as Keisha said her piece was a collage of more than one person.

“I used photography because it is quick to capture the true essence of that person’s being. In the piece you will see some gray areas of an older man; he is in his late 60s and then a younger gentlemen in his 30s. I used different elements to compose one concept to give the perception that all of these individuals make up who this homeless person is,” said Keisha.

Keisha said all of her recent work looks at untold stories of a “normal person”.

“People that are maybe homeless and the person who is referred to as a jonser, I basically used a combination of these individuals to comprise this makeup. This person that we don’t look at, we just talk about. We just kind of place them down in society and we don’t think that they have a sense of independence,” said Keisha.

She said her work in photography has mainly been focused on those individuals in society who people don’t think are apart of society. “We segregate them and put them into a box, so this was a different sort of approach. I may look at elderly people for another photography project that I am working on,” said Keisha.

Jeanette Middleton, another artist that took part in the exhibit, said her mixed media piece “Miss Independent” represented Nassau’s past and present.

“I did a cast of my whole entire body, so this is actually a life-sized replica of me. My piece represents Nassau going back in the day to future times. In the front it shows beauty, how Nassau is so beautiful and in the back it shows that even though Nassau is beautiful, she has her scars and she has the stuff that she is going through like crime, violence and so forth. Hopefully people will like it and understand what I am trying to say,” said Jeanette.

Speaking about her “Queen Bahamia” piece, Nastassia Pratt said she tried to take on two angles that she feel are important enough to discuss through art.

“What I am trying to look at here are some of the things that I feel like we should be doing in our country to become an even more independent nation. I do believe that we still have some ties to that colonial way of thinking, almost like waiting for someone to give us permission. So I am speaking here to tourism,” said Nastassia.

“Tourism, we have a good grapple on it and I think that we are headed in the right direction so it is not really what I wanted to focus on entirely but it is worth discussing. I also have symbols of a rake and garden tools because I believe that agriculture is something the we really haven’t picked back up. It is almost like we turned our back completely to it. We have some farmers but I think that is something that we can explore to a great extent,” said Nastassia.