renowned dance companies and choreographers.
Her credits include performances with Kowteff West African
Dance Company, under the artistic direction of Sewaa Codrington;
and Oyu Oro, under the artistic direction of La Mora, Fritzalyn
Hector, Francine Elizabeth Ott and Otis D. Herring, for
whom she served as an assistant choreographer.
Among her other accolades, Roberts was a part of the 2018
Voices of Congo Square cast, which made its debut in the
Orpheum Theater in New Orleans, LA. She has also worked
with the Purelements, an evolution in dance, as a professional
company member, teaching technique styles like Dunham,
African and Jazz, jazz, among others.
She has even taken her passion and love for the art form to
Grenada and St. Marteen. In Grenada, Roberts said she led several
dance workshops, in 2014, at the Conception Dance Theater,
under the direction of Cecilia Griffith. Most recently, the Grenadian
Consulate and the Grenadian Independence Committee in
New York honored Roberts with the 2020 Cultural Award.
She was also a 2019 Caribbean Life Impact Award honoree
and was a 2014 awardee of Caribbean Life’s 40 under 40 Award,
an honor given to Caribbean Americans who have made an
impact in the community.
For more information on Dance Grenada, visit www.dancegrenada.
Trinidadian born Dr. Daniela Fifi named Chief
Curator at National Art Gallery of the Bahamas
By Caribbean Life
Trinidadian born Art Educator and Museum Curator
Dr. Daniela Fifi has been named the Chief Curator at
the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas (NAGB).
Dr Fifi is a graduate of Teacher’s College, Columbia
University where she attained her Doctorate in Art and
Art Education. She is also the holder of a Bachelor of
Fine Arts Degree from The Pratt Institute New York,
and a Master of Arts Degree in Art Gallery and Museum
Studies from the University of Manchester in the
United Kingdom.
Among other honors, she was the recipient of the
Caribbean Life Impact Award in 2017, for her outstanding
contributions to her field as a Caribbean national.
Dr Fifi comes to her new role at the NAGB with
a decade of experience working in museums. Her
resume includes previous positions as a Curatorial
Specialist at the National Museum and Art Gallery of
Trinidad and Tobago and Secretariat at the Museum
Association of the Caribbean. In her capacity as Chief
Curator at the NAGB, she will be in charge of curatorial
programming. Her perspective of curatorial work
and museums is centered on the museum as an educational
space with the ability to positively impact its
community. These are also key components of the
NAGB’s mission.
“With civil unrest and tensions rising across the
globe, museums are so important now,” says Dr. Fifi.
“Museums are positioned to facilitate global conversations
and are champions of culture. Discussions of cultural
and social inequity can no longer be passed over.
The art and artifacts that we encounter in museums
collections can facilitate these difficult conversations
and help us frame how we are responding to what is
happening around us. In this way art exhibitions have
transformative power, I believe, and have an extremely
valuable societal role.”
Commenting on the hiring of Dr Fifi, NAGB’s Governance
Committee, Board of Directors and Executive
team stated that, “Dr. Fifi brings to her new role a consummate
Caribbean L 24 ife, Sept. 18-24, 2020
professionalism from her years of experience
that will burnish the work of current and former colleagues
at the NAGB, now a 17-year-old institution. At
this crucial moment, as the NAGB grows from adolescence
into maturity, Dr. Fifi’s knowledge and specific
expertise in Caribbean art and collection care will build
the curatorial department even further and thereby
assist the nation in expanding our knowledge around
museum work, as specifically related to the visual arts
in a Caribbean environment.”
According to the NAGB, one of the first major projects
Dr Fifi will oversee will be an exhibition entitled PULSE,
curated by Associate Curator Richardo Barrett. PULSE
will be a three part exhibition that will focus on the public
arts of the Bahamas and will begin on September 17.
The first two iterations will focus specifically on
mural painting, with eight participating Bahamian artists:
Allan Wallace, Angelica Wallace Whitfield, Amaani
Hepburn, June Collie, Domonique Delancy Jacobs, Jodi
Minnis, Lemero Wright and Jolyon Smith. The exhibition
will also include “living participatory” shows,
streamed on the museums’ web site, with two mural
artists creating live murals in the museum’s space with
online intervention from the public. The public will
then be asked to participate by completing the mural.
The topic of the mural will surround the idea of crisis
and the role that public art plays during crisis.
Next will be a sculpture garden show featuring ten
sculptures, along with virtual tours, music playlists and
PDF activities to ensure the show is safe for visitors.
The third and final iteration of the exhibition will
follow in November and will take the form of a “Live-
In” residency for seven artists over three months.
While residing in the space, the artists will create six
murals using local materials, which will then open in
November and will also be available for viewing online.
The murals will then tour throughout the Bahamas at
the exhibition’s close, to offer as many members of the
public as possible the chance to share the experience.
In describing the vision of the exhibition, Dr. Fifi
says “Public art in all of its various forms creates a
source for awareness, encouragement, education, and
self-expression. Historically, it has also has been a platform
for the voiceless. During this time, it can serve
as a beacon of hope and an anchor for a society riddled
with anxiety and uncertainty about the future. As we in
the Bahamas and the Caribbean move into a new way
of living and seeing the world around us, art encourages
us to continue to engage with each other and
community. PULSE centers around public art that is
freely accessible and allows for a reflective pause amid
the everyday, which we think is essential.”
NAGB is the leading art institution for The Bahamas.
The museum and its organization actively nurtures
and provokes a healthy cultural ecosystem,
empowering multiple generations of Bahamians.
Continued from Page 23
Shola K. Roberts. Shola K. Roberts.
DANCE FESTIVAL
Daniela Fifi . Photo courtesy of Daniela Fifi
com.