VENICE.- The Bahamas Pavilion presents In Another Man’s Yard: John Beadle, Lavar Munroe, and the Spirit of (Posthumous) Collaboration, curated by Dr. Krista Thompson, for the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition takes place at San Trovaso Art Space in Dorsoduro, close to both Accademia and Zattere.
Marking only the second presentation of The Bahamas at the International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia following a 13-year hiatus, the Pavilion features the work of two Bahamian artists: the late John Beadle (1964–2024) and Lavar Munroe (b. 1982). Both artists’ practices are grounded in the visual and social traditions of The Bahamas and the broader African diaspora, engaging in themes of collaboration, commemoration, and material transformation. Their intergenerational dialogue forms the conceptual and visual foundation of the Pavilion.
Beadle was a revered figure within The Bahamas’ artistic community and an inspiration to many, including Munroe. He was part of a community of makers who create costumes for Junkanoo, the centuries-old biannual national processional festival, which he described as the cultural bedrock of The Bahamas. Junkanoo informed his commitment to collaborative artmaking and his use of discarded materials such as cardboard. Beadle also incorporated tarp from Haitian sloops abandoned on Bahamian shores. Through these materials and recurring motifs—dysfunctional oars, mobile houses, and concealed cutlasses—he drew attention to people, things, and artistic processes often disregarded.
Munroe has similarly worked at the intersection of Junkanoo and contemporary art. He has produced elaborate sculptures from strips of Junkanoo costumes discarded after use, transforming cardboard that had been twice cast aside. Taking the form of monumentally scaled equestrian figures or life-sized dogs, the material composition of Munroe’s works is often not immediately discernible.
Lavar Munroe, No Matter How Dreary and Gray, We People of Flesh and Blood Would Rather Live Here, Than in Another Man’s Yard, 2026, image detail of 11 panel work, courtesy the artist.
The Bahamas Pavilion also foregrounds Junkanoo’s memorial and spiritual dimensions. When a member of the Junkanoo community passes away, performers gather to honor the deceased. The Pavilion commemorates Beadle through a series of paintings by Munroe depicting a memorial procession, based on photographs by Bahamian photographer Jackson Petit. This work extends Munroe’s broader engagement with spiritual practices developed through recent trips to Tanzania, Senegal, and Zimbabwe. It also features includes distinct sections devoted to Beadle and Munroe and features collaborative works Beadle produced with Antonius Roberts and Stan Burnside as part of the Junkanoo-based Jammin collective. The exhibition further includes a section dedicated to “posthumous collaboration.” Munroe began this practice in 2016 to honor his late father, creating works based on unrealized plans he had to collaborate with him and using materials related to his profession as a parasail operator. For Venice, Munroe will incorporate materials connected to Beadle’s practice, including sail material from Haitian sloops he left in his studio.
Resonating with Biennale Arte 2026’s overarching theme, In Minor Keys, envisioned by the late Koyo Kouoh, which celebrates “artists who work at the boundaries of form and whose practices can be thought of as intricate melodies to be heard both collectively and on their own terms,” Dr. Thompson’s curatorial approach offers a distinctly Bahamian interpretation of this sentiment. The Pavilion highlights Beadle's and Munroe's use of discarded materials and collaborative processes to call attention to the hidden, the undervalued, “the minor notes,” in society and in the art world.
John Beadle.
The Bahamas Pavilion is organised by The Bahamas in Venice Committee, under the aegis of the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and the Honourable Mario Bowleg, Minister, Youth, Sports, and Culture, with assistance from the Italian Honorary Consul to The Bahamas, Michelangela Vismara. The Committee comprises cultural leaders dedicated to advancing the nation’s artistic legacy: John Cox, Chairman, National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB), Artistic Director, Baha Mar and Commissioner of The Bahamas Pavilion; Maelynn Ford, Executive Director, NAGB; Amanda Coulson, Former Executive Director, NAGB (2011–2021)and Producer of the Bahamas Pavilion; Jodi Minnis, Curatorial Director, NAGB; and representatives of the Friends of The Arts in The Bahamas (FAB) Foundation.
“Building on the powerful legacy of John Beadle and guided by the vision of Dr. Krista Thompson, The Bahamas’ Pavilion will challenge expectations, spark dialogue, and showcase rigorous material exploration,” stated The Bahamas in Venice Committee. “Our goal is to create a Biennale blueprint for future Bahamian artists — ensuring The Bahamas maintains a strong and enduring presence on this global stage for years to come.”
Lavar Munroe, Lift Up Mine Eyes, Unto the Hills, 2024, Acrylic, Latex house paint, airbrush, oil pastels, printed and painted fabric, feathers, ribbon. staples tacks, fringed newspaper and found photos on canvas.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by Skira featuring contributions from Dr. Krista Thompson, John Cox, Dr. Christian Campbell, Amanda Coulson and Tandazani Dhlakama.
John Beadle, a painter, sculptor, and lifelong Junkanooer born in Nassau to Jamaican Bahamian parents, combined traditional techniques with the found materials of Junkanoo —cardboard, wood, and salvaged objects—to create relief monuments and striking sculptural works. He addressed social issues, from migration to states of insecurity, in his work. He played a formative role across different artistic communities, having a central role in several artistic collectives, and paved the way for Munroe’s generation. He received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design before completing an MFA at Tyler School of Art, Temple University.
Lavar Munroe, an interdisciplinary artist from Grants Town, Nassau, works across mixed media painting, cardboard sculpture, and drawing. He earned his BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design and his MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. He also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and has completed a postdoctoral fellowship.
Represented by Monique Meloche Gallery (Chicago) and Larkin Durey (London), Munroe’s work blends spirituality, mythology, and history to create a visual language steeped in African diasporic symbolism and cultural imagination. His mixed-media practice combines paint, airbrush, collage, ceramic, glass, feathers, cardboard, and other sacred objects to explore mythology, spirituality, and identity. His work was in the 56th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Okwui Enwezor in 2015.
Krista Thompson is the Mary Jane Crowe Professor of Art History at Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois and independent curator. Born in The Bahamas, she is the author of An Eye for the Tropics (2006) and Shine: The Visual Economy of Light in African Diasporic Aesthetic Practice (2015), recipient of the Charles Rufus Morey Award for distinguished book in the history of art from the College Art Association (2016). Thompson is curator and editor of Antonius Roberts: Art, Ecology, and Sacred Space and (with Claire Tancons) of En Mas’: Carnival and Performance Art of the Caribbean (2015). In 2023, Thompson was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is the recent recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (2024-25).
John Cox, Commissioner of the Bahamian Pavilion, is a Bahamian artist whose mixed media paintings and assemblages incorporate familiar objects to explore distant places, histories, and ideas. Beyond his studio practice, Cox has played a pivotal role in shaping Bahamian art culture as an educator, curator, and cultural activist, guided by a deep belief that strong platforms are central to the evolution of any thriving creative industry. He is also the founder of Popopstudios, a pivotal community-based artist cooperative that significantly shifted the direction of contemporary art in The Bahamas, nurturing both emerging and senior artists from 1999 to 2018 helping to establish and liberate a new generation of creative practitioners. He currently serves as Vice President of Arts and Culture for the Baha Mar Resort, where he oversees The Current and Eccho — the resort’s art center and gallery. In 2022, Cox was named a PlaceMaker for the Rosewood Hotel Group, and in 2023 he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas. He is also the Creative Director of the Fuze Caribbean Art Fair, an initiative dedicated to unifying contemporary art practices across the Caribbean region.
Amanda Coulson, Producer of the Bahamian Pavilion, is the Founding Director of TERN, a gallery representing Bahamian and Caribbean artists internationally. As the Executive Director at The National Art Gallery of the Bahamas for a decade, a co- founder of the VOLTA art fairs and an art critic and writer, she has worn many hats and has experienced the art industry from many angles. She has led large scale productions in the Caribbean, USA and Europe, creating stellar exhibitions and performances. As an arts Leader her core strengths lie in art strategy, developing partnerships with artists and institutions and bringing ideas to life.
