In a world experiencing a great deal of unrest, along with the turmoil associated with the coronavirus, the desire for the positive celebration of culture that has been neglected by the mainstream is a quite real one. The National Art Gallery of the Bahamas’ (NAGB) understands this truth and recognizes the opportunities that are present. In that spirit, in very exciting news, NAGB recently celebrated naming Dr. Daniela Fifi as the new Chief Curator of NAGB. Deeply knowledgeable about all aspects of Caribbean art, highly motivated, and with a spirit of community empowerment Fifi comes to the position after three years working at the National Museum of Trinidad, and two years of experience at the Museum Association of the Caribbean. In her new position she is in charge of both education and outreach work, two vital part’s of the NAGB mission. The excitement surrounding the news of Fifi being hired as Chief Curator at NAGB is high.
“With all the civil unrest, museums are so important,” commented Dr. Fifi. “Because museums are positioned as having global conversations and champions of culture. Everything that has been spoken about over the past eight years. These discussions can no longer be passed over. There is so much focused on what’s happening in the USA, but the global crisis is being sidelined. Discussing challenges that are being faced in the Caribbean and across the world and framing how other countries are responding to what’s happening, I believe, can be extremely valuable.”
According to NAGB and Fifi some of the first big projects she will be focusing on include highlights like first, stating in September, pulse, public arts, history of public arts in the Bahamas, specifically looking at murals, with ten artists participating. These will be a kind of “living participatory” shows, streamed on the museum web site, with three street artists, doing a live mural in the museum’s space. The public will then be asked participate by completing the mural. The topic of the mural will surround the idea of crisis and the role that public art plays in crisis.
Next will be a sculpture garden show. Between ten and 15 sculptures will be featured, and virtual tours, music playlists and PDF activities will all be available so that the sculpture garden show will be COVID-19 friendly. Visitors will have the chance to learn about the important of sculpture in public art, which is a very fascinating subject.
The third exciting project will be launching in November. This will be a “Live In” residency for nine artists for three months. They will be sharing their thoughts on why public art is an important way to help with public health in a crisis like the one we are all experiencing. The artists will create six murals that will open in November. The artists will be living in the space and also showing their work online. The murals will be created with local materials and once the exhibition is finished at NAGB it’ll be moving within the Bahamas, so as many people in the community will get to see the murals as possible.
These three events will just be a good start for Fifi as Chief Curator with much more both large and small planned for the near future.
NAGB is the leading art institution for The Bahamas. The museum and its organization actively nurtures and provokes a healthy cultural ecosystem, empowering multiple generations of Bahamians.
To learn more be sure to visit https://nagb.org.bs.
About NAGB
The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) is a world-class museum with a passion for knowledge and a drive to push cultural boundaries. The NAGB collects, preserves, exhibits and interprets historic and contemporary Bahamian art. We exist to educate, uplift and inspire.
