"Harmony Unearthed"

Collecting is part of the making,” states sculptor Kendra Frorup about her work. She was born and brought up in Nassau, Bahamas and uses her memories of this time in her art. Kendra Frorup's practice is her prolific and playful use of a variety of everyday material, often organic and tied to the landscape she grew up in. Her practice includes caste metals, drawing, found objects, frames, and prints among other things. The result is her work often appears like a sculptural assemblage. Tamarind fruit cast in bronze, resin sugar-apples and ceramic coconuts are layered on top of screen-prints and mono-prints of roosters, chickens, straw-baskets and local architecture. Inspired by her sensory memories, she refers to familiar sounds, tastes and smells within her work and each piece can be compared to the experience of walking down a busy side-street in Nassau or an out-island; the artwork is an assemblage of this sensory experience into a physical object.

Tessa’s heritage is both Bahamian (father) and Jamaican (mother) and is based in Nassau. Her practice incorporates a variety of mediums, including, performance, analogue photography, film and sculpture, with an emphasis in painting and drawing. Tessa Whitehead uses her work to recount inherited stories and peculiar happenings within her home and her immediate landscape. Her works re-imagine these inherited allegories and recounted moments that are inextricably linked to the landscape once inhabited by her ancestors and now by her. She often uses the Bahamian bush as backdrop for her works and fills the space with familiar caricatures, people from her immediate community and objects that might occupy these spaces. The lush, tropical backdrop seems like a perfect landscape for healing; however, her works also contain hints of agonizing irony and often unearth sordid archetypes of the wild woman, a pointed juxtaposition to the idyllic tropical façade.

Lynn Parotti, based between London and Nassau, Bahamas, is preoccupied with the environment in all its multifaceted connotations. She has a consuming passion for the natural landscape of the Bahamas where she was born, particularly the intoxicating world of the ocean. But she is equally concerned with the social geography of place; the human experience and relationship to these locations, the historical traces, the economic and environmental impact and consequences. Her sensuous revelling in the beauty of nature is increasingly counter-balanced by a politicised awareness of its imperilled state due to climate change and the attendant crises of rising sea levels, the depletion of natural resources, the consequences of coral bleaching, the availability of clean water. She also references the human toll through allusions to migration, coastal communities, substance fishing and poverty.

Whether working in watercolor, charcoal or clay, Sue Bennett Williams has a meticulous commitment to the chosen medium, taking obvious pleasure in mastering each process while also constantly pushing its boundaries into unexpected territory. Sue has worked primarily with watercolor in the past, but now is experimenting with watercolor and acrylics to create a different surface effect along with combining clay to create mixed media pieces. She also creates installations using clay and other materials. Williams’ own penchant for discovery and exploration has taken her on hikes which allows her to connect with nature on a constant and is interested in the way that plants have consistently held the power to captivate and intrigue us the world over and through time. Her work ultimately feeds into the long history of botanical illustrations, still life studies, and landscape artwork of the planet as a whole.

Chantal E.Y. Bethel is a mixed media artist based in Grand Bahama who uses her internal landscape and emotions as source for her creations. Born in Haiti, educated in Belgium, Bethel came to her artistic practice later in life. She pursued art studies at Haliburton School of Art in Canada. Bethel believes in the possibility of healing and transformation through her artistic expression. Bethel's work explores the emotional complexities of our beings. In 'Harmony Unearthed', she connects with the natural world using the nautilus shell as a metaphor for the magnitude of the human potential. Within this transformation lies the tension of uncertainty and discomfort, but also a hope of healing. The shell’s spiral pattern  becomes then a symbol of psychological growth and transformation as she seizes the repeated opportunities to face what she fears.

Claudette Dean (b. 1954 Blind River, Ontario, Canada) is a fine artist, writer, and author based in Grand Bahama. Working primarily in acrylic and mixed media, her spiritually based work expresses universal themes such as love, light, and connection, and is often inspired by nature. Her feminine voice has been described as lyrical, with a strong use of symbolism imbuing the work with a sense of the mystical. She is forever seeking to connect with the divine within and to express the universal. Her creative impulse thrives in that mysterious realm somewhere between the known and the unknown. In this space, free of misconceptions and boundaries, intuition kicks in and naturally taps into the spiritual. In her Iris Series, works are based on a dream she had regarding the Iris. The goddess Iris is known as the rainbow goddess, one who connects Heaven and earth, a messenger between the gods and mortals.

Alexandria Robinson explores the figure's connection to the true spiritual self, transcending socially constructed and perceived identities. It is an exploration of the essence that exists beyond the confines of specific labels, delving into the universal human experience.

When engaging with her artwork, she hopes that viewers embark on their own journey of self-discovery. She aspires to inspire them to find solace, inspiration, and a renewed sense of wonder in the extraordinary world we inhabit. It is her belief that looking within has the ability to transcend boundaries, create meaningful dialogues, and foster a greater sense of unity and compassion among humanity.