TERN Gallery is a new exhibition space in Nassau aiming to bring Bahamian art to the international stage. The gallery opened on December 7, 2020 with an exhibition curated by Jodi Minnis entitled “Inherited Values,” featuring work by mixed media artist Kendra Frorup and ceramicist Anina Major. The exhibition will run until February 8, 2021. 

“Inherited Values” centers on two Bahamian artists whose practices draw on memory and cultural tradition to conjure a contemporary vision of economic possibility and ecological sustainability. Looking to the straw industry and Mortimer’s Candy Kitchen—a Nassau landmark beloved for its confections and community impact alike—Frorup and Major propose a space of potential where local commerce, creatively framed, can guide the way towards a prosperous future for island nations’ micro-economies. The urgency of envisaging flourishing Caribbean futures has been highlighted as the COVID-19 pandemic unearthed global structural inequalities the world over, further emphasizing the timeliness of Major and Frorup’s work. 

[Images above: First, Kendra Frorup’s “Another Direction,” 2020; photo by Jackson Petit. Second, Anina Major’s “Seasoned Rice Pot,” 2020.]

For more on the new gallery and owner Lauren Holowesko, see https://nagb.org.bs/mixedmediablog/2020/12/23/blank-canvas-december-23rd-2020-featuring-lauren-holowesko-of-the-tern-gallery-with-artists-anina-major-and-kendra-frorup