The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

IT was while exploring the history of Old Freetown, Grand Bahama, that artist Chantal Bethel and writer Laurie Tuchel first became inspired by the women of that settlement’s church.

And it was the research project looking into the lives of these women that later morphed into “Beneath the Hat”, an acclaimed exhibition telling the story of Bahamian women in an unique way – through the many hats they wear.

During the early planning stages in 2011, well-known photographer Lyndah Wells was invited to join the two women in completing the project, which they had come to call “Beneath the Hat”

Collectively, they explored connections of cultural and spiritual symbolism, tradition, and the history as it relates to hats worn by Bahamian women today.

For the exhibit, interviews and photograph sessions were conducted on both Grand Bahama and New Providence, and stories were collected to demonstrate the interplay between colonialism, African heritage, religious life and women’s careers.

How these influences affect the design and function of hats, and how fashion is reflected in contemporary Bahamian society, was illustrated through a collaborative art exhibition held on October 16 at the Grand Gallery, Grand Bahama. This is the second installment of the exhibit, following a successful showing in Nassau last year.

Ms Well’s photos, an art installation piece by Ms Bethel entitled “Hattitude” and writing by Ms Tuchel, edited by Paula Boyd Farrington, were on all display during the show.

“ ‘The Beneath the Hat’ project has allowed me to meet and interview 18 women who have discovered and claimed something they love to do,” Ms Bethel told Tribune Woman.

“We interviewed women in Nassau and Grand Bahama from all walks of life. After that, the story was no longer about the hats; it became more about the women wearing the hats, which is why we called it ‘Beneath the Hat’. We wanted to find out more about the people, so all three of us jotted down names at random. There was no reason to choose one over the other.”

The exhibition concentrated on the two most populated Bahama islands,Grand Bahama and New Providence. Chantal said both islands provided a strong pool of women representing various walks of life in today’s society. The interviewees were government, religious, artistic and civic-oriented leaders in their respective communities. Their flair for life is reflected through their stories and their love of hats.

The 18 women “beneath their hats” include Amanda “Gold” Adderley, Lucille “Mama Lou” Adderley, Debbie Archer, Annette Carey, Bernadette Christie, Anthea Bullard, Beverly Chin, Marina D’Aguillar, Erika Gates, Maurisa Glinton, Sue Lynn McCrae, Laurie Lady Miller, Piaget Moss, Ginger Moxey, Rubie Nottage, Alisa Streather-Robinson, Apostle Rita Stuart, and Agatha Thompson.

Ms Wells said they realised the rich diversity of the participating women after they concluded the interviews. Taking the potraits of the women while they posed comfortably in their own homes, Ms Wells said these women are all really hat wearers, some owning up to 30 or even 40 hats.

“We would sit with them and they would try the hats on and I would take photos. We had to take a step back and look at really what we wanted to say with this. It turned out to be more of a metaphor of all the hats women wear during the course of their lives as mothers and career women. We found that after we interviewed the first two or three women, they had such interesting stories and they were all so different,” Ms Wells said.

It is easy to look at a woman and think you know her life, she said, but there is so much hidden that a person goes through to become who they are.

“The youngest participant was Piaget Moss, an artist in her early 20s, and she is just at the start of her career, but she is already someone to watch. We chose her because we felt like in five to ten years time she will be a big person in the art scene. Then the oldest lady in the exhibition was in her 80s. It was a really wide mix of people that gave a general overview of the lives of Bahamian women. Not only women came out, men came out and found this interesting as well,” the photographer said.

The exhibition also included a performance directed by director/producer Gloria McGlone. The artists performing included Colleen Lewis, Erica Weir, Sue Lynn McCrae, Rochelle Barnett, Ana-Alicia Carroll, Portia Colebrooke, and Shaquita Stubbs.

Ms Bethel said spectators really enjoyed the performance, notably Sarah St George, vice president of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, who sent the team an e-mail saying: “Wow, what fun and how brilliant of you to get the message out so fabulously. I’d love a recording or CD of the performance the other night if at all possible.”

Ms Bethel’s “Hattititude” piece also received great feedback, as Gloria Pratt noted: “The ‘Hattitude’ performance was hot. I had a whale of a time. Many thanks once again.”

This installation represented the passion conveyed by the women and is constructed using 250 mini straw hats.

The exhibition at The Grand Gallery on Retail Street, the Grand Lucayan hotel, will continue until October 30, 2015. The ‘Beneath the Hat’ catalogue edited by Paula Boyd Farrington is also available at the Grand Gallery.