Thierry Lamare's 'The Liberal' (2002) is one of those works in the National Collection that commands attention. This realistic depiction of one of Lamare's muses, the force that was Joyce, is currently on view at the NAGB in the recent unveiling of our spring exhibition, "Love, Loss and Life," a retrospective featuring over 111 works by Lamare.
Joyce stands center stage and packs a lot of presence. She is almost confrontational with her arms folded as she looks straight at you, eyes meeting your gaze with a face that has a mouth set stern. It makes you think that perhaps she didn't want you looking at her at all, but in growing to understand Lamare's practice, we know he wasn't quite one to just take a random snap of an out-islander and bring home that treasure from his expedition to render. No, he holds a certain kind of closeness with his subjects where they don't become subjects at all but friends, comrades, and companions. As Ophelia -- one of his other muses who (like Joyce) called Long Island home -- became an 'eternal' part of his 'art and heart,' Joyce is forever immortalized as one who touched his soul, and it shows in his work.
Lamare is French by birth but has spent the last 30 years devoting his time and creative efforts to inserting himself into the Bahamian narrative and finding a way to help us record and tell our stories with a sort of integrity that we often find ourselves dubious of for non-native Bahamians. Lamare is very much Bahamian and French, holding a dual sense of national identity to himself, as both landscapes have so irrevocably shaped his life. Even before he could fully move here, half of his heart remained in the islands with his wife, Joie, and his care for the culture of the islands and its people is made clear in his almost dutiful practice and precision in presenting aspects of Family Island life.
Joyce, in all her commanding presence and the gravitas she holds, is not merely impressive because of how truthfully she has been rendered -- to the eye and to what one would understand her personality to be -- but also because such a strong work has been rendered in watercolor. As a medium, watercolor is associated with a sort of softness given its translucent quality, but here it is made bold, given depth, and the transparent quality is not so much in the paint as it is in his honest depiction of people. This can only be achieved by truly looking, and by truly getting to understand and know the person before you who you are attempting to immortalize in work. The medium inherently holds a sort of honesty -- mistakes, pencil marks, all of your 'working' as it were, are laid bare with watercolor, and this feels conceptually sound given his personal and sincere methods for choosing subjects.
The work holds a certain sincerity that we often painfully find missing in those 'transplants' like Lamare who have come from elsewhere. We are not exoticism here, we are told in our truth and elevated. Devoting so much time and care to depicting everyday people is an act that is as much political and sincere.
The title alone shows a sort of elevation. 'The Liberal' (2002) could be a liberal in terms of politics, regarding the notion of freedom, or even in terms of giving. Perhaps it is the sternness of her face that makes us able to think of her as some hardened, matriarchal politician. Perhaps it is the aura of strength she exudes, the strength someone can only attain by being tested and by living a hard life, that alludes to her liberal quality of being someone with freedom -- because perhaps this hard life is the cost of being free in a sense, of living untouched by external forces other than nature where you live off the land. And perhaps she is liberal in the giving sense of the word, because she is like so many black women in this country's history, working and giving so much of themselves to everyone else. It often feels that Joyce, as one of his muses, rendered in so much detail and in such a variety of ways that we specifically feel that we know her in her individuality -- as a stalwart, screw-faced woman -- but she still feels like she could be any of us. And this is some of the magic in his work.
Though the current retrospective of his work holds only a careful selection of just over 100 works out of the body of at least 1500 in his creative career, Joyce is a recurring theme and her contrast of sternness in comparison to the sort of wind-beaten softness of Ophelia is telling of what the struggle of life in the Out Islands, in living the traditional Bahamian way off the land, can do to shape your life. Ophelia becomes the softest kind of leather -- where life's struggles have hit hard but left us with a suppleness that is unsurpassed, whereas Joyce becomes the resilient and hardened driftwood, worn smooth by the tide, hot sun, and salt.
We all know that traditional island life here, as so many of our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents can attest to, can harden you or soften you in ways you just don't quite get from anything else. The hardened, tough-as-nails Joyce becoming driftwood, like the frames Lamare makes which are so much a part of the work, makes us think that a little piece of her is really in all of the works he frames from this found wood on the shore.
Even though she nor Ophelia are present any longer, it is undeniable that their presence remains and reminds us that all forms of our strength and the way life here shapes us are not only valid, but make us a force of strength or softness to reckon with.
Thierry Lamare's retrospective, "Love, Loss and Life," is on view at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas through September 10. As a reminder, the NAGB is open on Sundays from 12 p.m - 5 p.m. and all locals are welcome to our Free Sundays.

Members of the Bain and Grants Town Chess Club (BGT) attended their first international tournament, thanks to the support of the TIG Foundation, Lindroth Development, BPL, the Bahamas Chess Federation and the Bains and Grants Town Urban Renewal.
A total of five kids from the club qualified for, and recently attended, the 6th CARIFTA Chess Championships in New Kingston, Jamaica. They were tasked with representing the country in the competition as well as promoting The Bahamas as ambassadors for the country, which they did admirably.
This was the first time that the Bain and Grants Town Chess Club attended any tournament outside of the country, a change from their usual competitions at Bahamas Chess Federation tournaments. They faced stiff competition against 214 strong and extremely experienced players from six other countries.
Trinity Pinder, in the under-16 girls category, and Adam Clarke, Davonye Edmond, Ivoine Strachan and Suraj Nair, in the under-12 category, quickly dispatched many of their opponents, but, in the end, got taken down by more experienced players.
According to reports, all of the kids did well considering it was their first battle on the international stage, and, for a few of them, the first time they had traveled out of the country.
"They all put in a lot of hard work before and during the tournament and they gained valuable experience and skills that can only be attained from international competition," said Elton Joseph, president of the Bain and Grants Town Chess Club. "This tournament is a testament that hard work and effort pays off."
The club, which meets on Saturdays at the Bains and Grants Town Urban Renewal Center, is open to persons wishing to learn the royal sport of chess. It caters mostly to kids from the Bains and Grants Town community, but welcomes anyone interested in playing chess.
As the club continues to push forward to achieve its goal of becoming the strongest chess club in the region, while helping the community as well, members and executives are grateful for the support received so far. They would like to thank everyone who made the trip to the CARIFTA championships possible, including the hard-working parents.

Two men arrested in a casino scam at the Baha Mar resort the day after the resort opened were yesterday sentenced to two years' imprisonment.
At their arraignment before Acting Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain, Luis Sanchez, 34, of Miramar, Florida, and Jose Nemojon, 53, of Miami, Florida, admitted to fraudulently obtaining $5,946 while playing roulette on April 22.
According to the prosecutor, Sergeant Bridgette Strapp, casino security noticed that Sanchez placed chips from the table in his pocket before cashing out of the game.
Sanchez told police that he placed those chips in the bathroom.
Nemojon then collected the chips that had been hidden in the bathroom and went to the roulette table.
Although he lost the game, by the time he cashed out he had more chips than he ought to have had and collected $5,946 from the dealer.
Both men also admitted to proceeds of crime in relation to the money and chips that were recovered.
Police recovered $226 from Sanchez and $1,608 from Nemojon, in addition to $800 in chips.
Both men asked Swain for leniency, saying that they were convinced to participate in the scheme by a man they met at the bar known only as "Marco".
However, Swain said that she could not ignore the egregious nature of the crime on the recently opened resort.
She said, "Had you not been caught, you would have gotten away."
The men were sentenced to two years each on the charges of fraud by false pretenses and conspiracy to commit fraud by false pretenses, and 18 months on the proceeds of crime charges.
The seized funds were confiscated by the Crown and the chips returned to the casino.

A drug mule who got caught smuggling more than three pounds of marijuana was yesterday sentenced to 14 months in prison.
Stacey Anne Barrow, 37, who claimed she has been jobless for over two years, said that desperation drove her to agree to swallow 82 capsules of drugs for just $700, as she was the sole breadwinner for her four young children.
Barrow was arrested with her one-year-old daughter at Lynden Pindling International Airport on April 22 after arriving on a flight from Jamaica.
Her other children, ages 10, 6, and 4, were left in Jamaica.
Acting on information, police arrested Barrow and singled her out for a search.
Barrow denied that she had any drugs, but police took her to Princess Margaret Hospital, where an x-ray revealed that she had foreign objects in her stomach.
Barrow was admitted and given medicine to pass the objects that collectively contained 3.4 pounds of marijuana.
She pleaded guilty to drug importation and drug possession with intent to supply at her arraignment before Magistrate Jeanine Weech-Gomez.
Barrow said her four-year-old was sickly and required constant medical care.
Barrow, who did not have a lawyer, told Weech-Gomez, "I am beseeching for your leniency. This is my first time."
The magistrate chastised Barrow for her "reckless" actions before sentencing her to 12 months on the importation charge and 14 months on the drug possession with intent to supply charge.
The sentences are to run concurrently and Barrow will be deported after serving her sentence.