Exhibition explores male academic disengagement

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2: Questions surrounding why young males are struggling academically despite the opportunities available to them is the theme of an art show opening at Bermuda College.

The Male Academic Disengagement (M.A.D.) show coincides with a Division of Liberal Arts forum covering the same subject on the opening night — tomorrow.

The show is made up of members of the online arts collective B.ermudian A.rtists R.ise U.p (BARU) launched by local artist Calix Smith. Smith, who is a student at the college, came up with the idea to join the show with the lecture. “I was told about the discussion and put the idea of doing a show to the collective to see if anyone would bite.

“It raises the question of why we have these young men who are academically disengaged when there is opportunity here —young males are not tapping into it, they are tapping into negative vibes. The forum and the show are about figuring out why.”

Smith is creating an installation using blue painters’ tape stuck to the floor to make up an image.  It shows a young man with his head in his hands, starting into a book with images and icons coming from his head. “I’s asking, why are they detached? From his head there may be images of money, things that represent vanity, symbols for being detached.  But it doesn’t have to be negative — maybe you have a creative mind but you need an alternative form of education.”

The M.A.D. show will also feature the work of Manuel Palacio, Dany Pen, Ami Zanders, Gavin ‘Djata’ Smith and Summer Wood.

Smith gathered the artist for the exhibition through BARU which has attracted 120 members since he launched it a year ago. Members come from all creative backgrounds such as established playwright Patricia Nesbitt, musician Jason Clarke, visual artist Ami Zanders and film actress Lara Smith.

Diverse

The diverse nature of the group lends itself to multi-genre exhibitions incorporating visual art and performance art.

Smith said of the idea of launching an arts collective: “I was just looking for a space to be progressive for the greater good of art in Bermuda.

“It was a means for me to reach out to other artists and communicate with them and it kind of took a world of its own.

“People were like ‘yeah, let’s exhibit, let’s be an entity’ and it has just grown from there.

“You can tap into some great people through the group who may have a means of connecting to you and helping you advance in your career.”

M.A.D. art show and forum
When: The forum takes place from 4:30pm to 6:30pm on November 3. The art show runs from Thursday, November 3-28 opening at 6:30pm.
Where: Bermuda College, second floor of the North Hall.