{"id":17485,"date":"2012-01-30T09:40:54","date_gmt":"2012-01-30T14:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=17485"},"modified":"2012-01-30T09:50:43","modified_gmt":"2012-01-30T14:50:43","slug":"as-we-knew-him-tribute-to-jackson-burnside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2012\/01\/as-we-knew-him-tribute-to-jackson-burnside","title":{"rendered":"As We Knew Him… Tribute To Jackson Burnside"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Junkanoo piece from One Family, on display at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas. KYLE SMITH \/ TNG<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nearly a year has gone since master Bahamian artist, architect and Junkanooer Jackson Burnside has passed away, yet his legacy lives on. In the world of Junkanoo, Jackson received his due in a dazzling tribute on Boxing Day morning last year by One Family \u2013 the group he was pivotal in starting and directing.<\/p>\n

Though One Family didn\u2019t take home the prize that evening, their costumes which provided such a comprehensive look at Jackson\u2019s persona will instead garner a major first for the Junkanoo community \u2013 a place in the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB) during the exhibition \u201cAs We Knew Him\u201d, a tribute to the late Jackson Burnside which opens this Friday night.<\/p>\n

The exhibition, says Curator John Cox, will finally give the national institution a chance to explore the intersection between the often separated categories of fine art and folk art through a figure who had such a major impact on both worlds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis show is going to be about Jackson and about the high art Junkanoo is and can be,\u201d explains Cox.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be about a moment of the parade on Boxing Day in 2011 and it\u2019s going to be about people\u2019s response to the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Jackson had such a major impact on both worlds because he believed unconditionally in the power of Bahamian culture in all of its manifestations, evident by his great work in almost every medium of art, from the theoretical to the applied.<\/p>\n

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Event details<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This exhibition, however, is not a retrospective of the artist \u2013 instead, it focuses largely on his love of Junkanoo as a fitting tribute and reflection of this larger-than-life cultural figure as the arts and culture community approach the one-year anniversary of his death.<\/p>\n

Taking up the entire two-floor space of the gallery, \u201cAs We Knew Him\u201d will explore through film clips, photos, personal memorabilia and interviews, Jackson\u2019s invaluable contribution to Junkanoo.<\/p>\n

But at the core of the exhibition are sixteen off-the-shoulder pieces from the 2011 Boxing Day tribute that Cox and his team recovered from visits to Junkanoo shacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to do our best to recreate the energy of the parade in the gallery,\u201d says Cox. \u201cWe\u2019re going to show them in their raw state, post-rush. So they\u2019re a little banged up but they\u2019re special in that way. They become more sentimentalized.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, new works of art inspired by the Junkanoo pieces by College of The Bahamas students will be on display \u2013 Cox partnered with COB to invite a drawing class into the shacks and create new work in the spirit of exchange between fine and folk art.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a usual academic art exercise, to go and draw after master artists. We thought it was an interesting opportunity to recreate that kind of activity,\u201d Cox explains. \u201cI wanted it to inspire a new kind of art which I know would make Jackson smile because that was his thing \u2013 he encouraged young artists especially to think outside the box.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such a comprehensive display, says Cox, not only serves to educate the Bahamian public about Junkanoo and invites a new crowd into the space of the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, but also fittingly pays thanks to One Family for their innovative and heartfelt tribute that touched the lives of those who knew Jackson.<\/p>\n

To One Family, who will perform a rush-out during the opening night of the exhibition on February 3, their 2011 Boxing Day salute to Jackson Burnside was an arduous undertaking but one which they believe paid off.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to celebrate his life in his death,\u201d says Chairman Magnus of One Family, Darren Bastian. \u201cWe found one of the most powerful tributes that we could give to him as an organization was to celebrate his life through Junkanoo and to tell his story as we knew him through Junkanoo and in the realm of Junkanoo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe told his story from his birth to his call to glory,\u201d he continues. \u201cEvery aspect of his life was touched so we are very happy we were able to pull off such a spectacular presentation, and it is the first a theme like that has ever been done on Bay Street \u2013 but that\u2019s One Family, we\u2019re not scared, we\u2019ll always try something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such an attitude has indeed paid off for the group, and now the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas pays tribute back. For Bastian, being a part of the six-week exhibition that in a historical first moves Junkanoo from the street to the formal gallery space is an honor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think so far too long people have viewed Junkanoo as simply that \u2013 junk not worthy to be placed in such a place of prestige,\u201d he says. \u201cBut honestly, if you ever step into or sit in a shack you understand just how creative our process is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo for One Family to have the opportunity to place our pieces in the National Art Gallery is an honor because junkanoo is a creative art form and I think it\u2019s about time it gets the recognition that is due. It is not a pastime \u2013 it is a way of living that speaks to who we are, what we do and how we express ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, to Jackson Burnside, the true spirit of Junkanoo was just that \u2013 Junkanoo was not about winning a competition but rather about uplifting and developing individuals and community, points out his widow Pam Burnside.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say to One Family that they may not have won on Bay Street but like Jackson used to tell them, winning on Bay Street was not the important thing \u2013 you had to win in the community,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s what One Family did \u2013 I call them the \u2018People\u2019s Choice\u2019 and that\u2019s exactly what they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having their tribute in the NAGB, she says, will help to see one of Burnside\u2019s dreams for The Bahamas come true \u2013 furthering the admiration and celebration of Bahamian culture in all of its manifestations.<\/p>\n

\u201cJackson and I over the years have been trying to close the divide between fine art and folk art and his death made it happen with his tribute on Bay Street that is now going into the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause Jackson was able to straddle all of these components of arts in the country, he was able to make this happen. It\u2019s because of him and his involvement in all of these different aspects of art that this is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs We Knew Him: One Family\u2019s Tribute to Jackson Burnside Boxing Day Parade 2011\u201d opens at The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas on Friday, February 3 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and continues for six weeks. A Junkanoo rush-out in honor of Jackson will also be held. For more information, call 328-5800.<\/p>\n

Sonia Farmer,
\nThe Nassau Guardian<\/a>
\nArts & Culture
\nPublished: Saturday, January 28, 2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One Family’s Junkanoo pieces honouring Jackson Burnside are at the core of an exhibition hosted by the NAGB as a tribute to the deceased cultural icon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[320,46,104],"class_list":["post-17485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-art","tag-celebrities","tag-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17485\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}