The Pavilion of The Bahamas has announced its presentation for the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, marking the country’s return to the prestigious global platform after a 13-year hiatus. Titled In Another Man’s Yard: John Beadle, Lavar Munroe, and the Spirit of (Posthumous) Collaboration, the exhibition is curated by renowned art historian and curator Dr. Krista Thompson and will be presented at San Trovaso Art Space in the Dorsoduro district of Venice .
This presentation represents only the second time The Bahamas has participated in the Venice Biennale, underscoring both the significance and ambition of the project. The Pavilion brings together the work of two Bahamian artists from different generations: the late John Beadle (1964–2024), a foundational figure in Bahamian contemporary art, and Lavar Munroe (b. 1982), one of the most internationally recognised artists of his generation .
At the heart of the exhibition is the concept of collaboration—across time, generations, and spiritual realms. The Pavilion positions Beadle and Munroe in dialogue through shared materials, cultural practices, and philosophies rooted in Junkanoo, the centuries-old Bahamian national processional festival. Junkanoo functions not only as an aesthetic reference but as a social and spiritual framework that shapes the artists’ approaches to making, memory, and community .
John Beadle was a painter, sculptor, and lifelong Junkanoo practitioner whose work was deeply embedded in the rhythms and labor of collective creation. Born in Nassau to Jamaican-Bahamian parents, Beadle trained formally at the Rhode Island School of Design, earning a BFA, before completing an MFA at the Tyler School of Art, Temple University. Despite his academic background, his practice remained resolutely grounded in local materials and communal traditions .
Beadle was particularly known for his use of found and discarded materials, including cardboard, wood, and tarp salvaged from Haitian sloops abandoned along Bahamian shores. These materials became the basis for sculptural reliefs and installations featuring recurring motifs such as broken oars, mobile houses, and concealed cutlasses. Through these forms, he addressed themes of migration, precarity, invisibility, and overlooked labour within Bahamian society and beyond .
Beyond his individual practice, Beadle was a revered mentor and community figure who played a central role in multiple artistic collectives. He was instrumental in shaping generations of artists, including Lavar Munroe, and was part of the Junkanoo-based Jammin collective alongside Antonius Roberts and Stan Burnside. These collaborative practices are represented in the Pavilion, reinforcing Beadle’s belief in art as a shared, social process .
Lavar Munroe’s practice similarly bridges Junkanoo traditions and contemporary art, though at a different scale and material intensity. Raised in Grants Town, Nassau, Munroe works across mixed-media painting, sculpture, drawing, and installation. He holds a BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design and an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, and has attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, in addition to completing a postdoctoral fellowship .
Munroe is internationally represented by Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago and Larkin Durey in London, and his work has been widely exhibited, including at the Arsenale during the 2015 Venice Biennale under the direction of the late Okwui Enwezor. His practice draws on African diasporic mythology, spirituality, and history, combining paint, airbrush, collage, cardboard, feathers, ceramic, glass, and sacred objects into richly layered compositions .
In In Another Man’s Yard, Munroe presents large-scale sculptural works made from strips of discarded Junkanoo costumes—materials that have already lived multiple lives. These sculptures, often taking the form of monumental equestrian figures or life-sized dogs, obscure their humble origins, transforming refuse into objects of reverence and power. The act of material transformation becomes a metaphor for survival, resilience, and ancestral continuity .
The Pavilion also foregrounds Junkanoo’s memorial and spiritual dimensions. Within the Junkanoo community, death is marked by processions and performances that honour the departed. Munroe commemorates Beadle through a series of paintings depicting a memorial procession, based on photographs by Bahamian photographer Jackson Petit. These works function as both tribute and continuation, extending Beadle’s legacy through Munroe’s hand .
A key section of the exhibition is devoted to the idea of “posthumous collaboration,” a concept Munroe began exploring in 2016 following the death of his father. This practice involves completing unrealised collaborative projects using materials associated with the deceased. For the Venice Pavilion, Munroe incorporates materials left behind in Beadle’s studio, including sailcloth from Haitian sloops, creating new works that blur the boundaries between authorship, time, and presence .
Dr. Krista Thompson’s curatorial vision situates the Pavilion within the broader conceptual framework of the Biennale’s overarching theme, In Minor Keys, envisioned by the late Koyo Kouoh. This theme celebrates artists working at the margins of dominant narratives and foregrounds subtle, collective, and often overlooked modes of expression. Thompson offers a distinctly Bahamian interpretation, emphasising the power of the “minor notes” found in discarded materials, collaborative labour, and spiritual practices .
Thompson, who was born in The Bahamas, is the Mary Jane Crowe Professor of Art History at Northwestern University and an independent curator. She is the author of An Eye for the Tropics and Shine: The Visual Economy of Light in African Diasporic Aesthetic Practice, the latter of which received the Charles Rufus Morey Award from the College Art Association. In 2023, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a recent recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship .
The Bahamas Pavilion is organised by The Bahamas in Venice Committee under the aegis of the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, led by the Honourable Mario Bowleg, with assistance from the Italian Honorary Consul to The Bahamas, Michelangela Vismara. The Committee includes key cultural figures such as John Cox, Chairman of the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas and Commissioner of the Pavilion, alongside Maelynn Ford, Amanda Coulson, Jodi Minnis, and representatives of the Friends of the Arts in The Bahamas Foundation .
John Cox, himself an accomplished artist and cultural activist, has played a pivotal role in shaping Bahamian contemporary art through initiatives such as Popopstudios and his leadership at Baha Mar’s art and culture platforms. Amanda Coulson, Producer of the Pavilion, brings extensive experience as the former Executive Director of the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, a gallery founder, critic, and co-founder of the VOLTA art fairs, with a career spanning large-scale international exhibitions .
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by Skira, featuring essays by Dr. Krista Thompson, John Cox, Dr. Christian Campbell, Amanda Coulson, and Tandazani Dhlakama. Together, these texts expand on the Pavilion’s themes of collaboration, materiality, and diasporic imagination, providing critical context for the works on view .
In Another Man’s Yard: John Beadle, Lavar Munroe, and the Spirit of (Posthumous) Collaboration will be on view from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with previews taking place from May 6 to 8, at San Trovaso Art Space, Fondamenta Nani, Dorsoduro, Venice. Supported by a wide network of Bahamian and international sponsors and patrons, the Pavilion asserts The Bahamas’ growing presence within global contemporary art discourse and sets a compelling blueprint for future national representations at the Venice Biennale .
