About Transforming Spaces

Transforming Spaces is an annual island-wide art bus tour held in Nassau, The Bahamas, showcasing the best in contemporary Bahamian visual art. Now in its nineteenth year, Transforming Spaces continues to showcase the amazing talent of both emerging and professional Bahamian artists!

Our Mission

TS continues to offer a platform that allows participating galleries and community spaces to ‘'transform' for an exciting art-filled weekend. We desire to bring Bahamian art to the forefront of the creative economy by challenging artists, innovators and artisans to explore and create.

Transforming Spaces prides itself on fostering connections and collaborations with artists, curators, and art enthusiasts, whilst highlighting regional and diasporic contemporary art practices.

Our History

Transforming Spaces began with a core group of participants—Jackson Burnside III, John Cox, Antonius Roberts, Tyrone Ferguson, Jay Koment and Erica James—who shared one common goal: to get artists to work together to expose Bahamian art.  It was an exciting time at the turn of the century—The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas opened its doors with an Inaugural National Exhibition in 2003, finally formally spotlighting Bahamian visual art in the eyes of the country and the region. This sparked a series of artistic projects and new galleries that continue to develop Bahamian visual art at a rapid pace to this day. Transforming Spaces is proud to be a defining voice in this conversation. Year after year, the tour has proven to be a great success as artists and art-lovers alike look forward to that weekend (traditionally held in springtime) where participating galleries transform their spaces to present innovative displays of Bahamian art. 

Our Structure

For eight years, it fell to the participating galleries to curate their own spaces based on their chosen individual themes or artists. In 2012, Transforming Spaces presented their first completely thematic tour, a call for artists to present work inspired by “Fibre”—either in theme, practice or material. The resulting work, placed in participating galleries, created an exciting narrative that paid homage to indigenous materials. Based on the success of a thematic tour, Transforming Spaces offers a call to artists under an engaging theme every few years, while alternating years provide a chance for the curators of participating art spaces themselves to present a well-thought out exhibition for the tour which continues to expand the conversation about Bahamian and regional Caribbean art.

Remembering TS Founding Members: Jackson Burnside III // 1949-2011; and Malcolm Rae // 1941- 2019

In 2019, we lost TS Founding Member, beloved artist, and owner of Stingrae Studios, Malcolm ‘The Artist’ Rae who passed away after a long battle with cancer. The TS committee, founders, and participating galleries will continue to celebrate his legacy, commitment to Transforming Spaces, and contribution to the development of art throughout The Bahamas.

In 2011, we lost TS Founding Member, Jackson Logan Burnside III - architect, artist, junkanoo, cultural advocate, and owner of Doongalik Studios Art Gallery. Jackson was beloved throughout The Bahamas and the world as a passionate proponent of ‘all things Bahamian’ and he dedicated his life to sharing this message with the world. His legacy lives on.