"Guanahani - An Unspeakable Land" exhibit by Chantal Bethel (seen here) in Brussels
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Grand Bahama based artists, Chantal Bethel and Arianne Etuk are presently exhibiting in Belgium. The Guanahani Art exhibition opened on November 19th at Maroussia show room, Avenue Plasky, in Brussels, and was extremely well received.
The following was written by Susan Moir Mackay about this latest collection of work by Bethel:
Guanahani—An
Unspeakable Land
The Bahamas, from European
sensibilities, conjures 007 dreams of exotic beaches and cocktails. It appears
to be the epitome of a tropical paradise, however the reality is more complex. The
past; pirates, colonial times and slave trade, are elements implicit to
contemporary Bahamian culture and they still resonate in the collective psyche.
Look deeper and there is another raw and painful history.
In 1492, Christopher
Columbus’ notorious and much celebrated discovery of the ‘New World’ seems like
a wonderful celebration of human perseverance and ingenuity, but for the
indigenous Indians it was a death knell, resulting in genocide. It could be
called a successful genocide, as there are no descendants left to call out in
outrage at the horror of the past. It is estimated that 40,000 people were
wiped out in as little as 25 years. A
culture whose customs and history were an oral legacy has been obliterated. It is hard to connect to this tragedy and the
compounded losses it represents.
But this is a role of art: to talk about the
unspeakable.
On 19th November
2015, established Bahamian artist Chantal Bethel, along with fellow Bahamian
Arianne Etuk, will be exhibiting in
Maroussia
—a new art space in Brussels,
Belgium.
Taking The Bahamas to
Europe, Bethel and Etuk push beyond the glossy stereotype, and deliberately
address the beautiful, the exotic,
and
the dark and the bloody. They narrate a story of The Bahamas beyond a facile
imagery of an ex-colony in the middle of an azure ocean.
"Guanahani - An Unspeakable Land" exhibit by Chantal Bethel in Brussels
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Titling the show
Guanahani
starts the conversation: It is a glamorous word to slip over the tongue, but
one with a composite imagery—
Guanahani my Love
—a
book of poetry by Bahamian poet, short storywriter, and essayist Marion Bethel,
was the inspiration for artist Chantal Bethel.
Guanahani is
the indigenous Indian name of Columbus’ first landfall. And the name that Columbus negated by
choosing the European-flavoured San Salvador instead.
Through
Guanahani Bethel exposes this history of
The Bahamas with installation and paintings. She deftly references the Taino Lucayan
(the indigenous Indians), with petroglyphs, sacred stones, and suspended
driftwood. Within the installation, this simplicity conflicts with images of death
and Christopher Columbus—the European hero placed behind bars, accountable for
his crimes.
This graphic depiction of
history contrasts with Bethel’s subsequent sublime works. A palette of saturated
blues and greens dissolve images of enigmatic women and flamboyant flamingos
are depicted with her signature crackle effect coruscating the surface.
There is a vast distance
between these two experiences of Bethel’s art in this show. It makes her work,
viewed in totality, jarring and challenging—a provocative juxtaposition that
requires contemplation to understand the connection between the two. For
example, it questions preconceptions about The Bahamas and asks: how do past
and present fit together? Certainly not
facile sunsets and cocktails.
Fitting in the space
between the two experiences of Bethel’s art is Etuk’s contribution— stylistic,
decorative, and beautiful, yet hinting at the macabre, they guide the emotional
journey between the dichotomies of Bethel’s work.
Guanahani
, is an elegant articulation, which uses art to discuss the
layered meanings of Old world and New. It carefully holds the past, honouring
and vilifying, remembering and mourning. A difficult aggregate, it narrates to
Europe a more balanced and startling story about one of the complexities of The
Bahamas. History is a theme underpinning this show, which, through the language
of art, talks of an unspeakable past, but ultimately celebrates a diverse,
abundant and joyful present.
Arianne Etuk and her work...
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