By Compass Contributor Lynn Markoff

This week, the fourth edition of The National Gallery of the Cayman Islands’ Biennial Exhibition opens for its run through 18 Feb. 2026.

Themed ‘Archipelago’, the exhibition features more than 75 contemporary works created by Caymanian artists.

To ensure its success, the National Gallery engaged Davin Ebanks and Joseph Underwood, professors from Kent State University in Ohio, to co-curate it. Underwood, who is a biennial exhibition expert, spoke about the inspiration for the theme.

“I knew that because the Cayman Islands is a multi-island nation, it had to be curated differently than one in a metropolitan city,” he said. “This easily informed the theme, ‘Archipelago.’

Biennial exhibitions

Underwood and Ebanks worked closely with Kerri-Anne Chisholm, curator of Gram Bella’s art space in North Side, regional experts and the local team at the National Gallery, including Maia Muttoo, the National Gallery’s programmes and exhibitions manager.

Muttoo explained the significance of biennials, which are major exhibitions held every two years in many places around the world.

“Biennials are meant to have international appeal and be informed by global conversations,” she said. “The topics we are unpacking in this show are also relevant to the region and internationally.”

Interweaving themes

The concept of both the collective and individual were interwoven throughout the exhibition as a metaphor to advance the subthemes, which include: ‘Culture Shift’, ‘Social Dynamics’, and ‘Ecological Legacies’.

Part of Ebanks’ and Underwood’s work entailed ensuring these subthemes played out in the six locations, which include the National Gallery, Cayman Islands National Museum, Gram Bella’s, and the Mission House on Grand Cayman; Brac Heritage House on Cayman Brac; and at the Little Cayman Museum. Each site had to have pieces integrated to reflect the subthemes so that it could be viewed independently, or cohesively if all six are experienced as a whole.

The co-curators faced several challenges. Some were purely logistical, such as trying to bring a piece to the Brac only to find that it wouldn’t fit on the plane. Others were more emotive, such as working with spaces rich with Caymanian heritage and wanting to honour that history in the best way possible.

“This is the first time the historic jail in the National Museum will house contemporary art,” Underwood said.  Each space will incorporate textures and colours to represent the themes and places.

“This approach allows people to access and engage with the exhibition in different ways.”  Muttoo said. “If people want to be more intuitive about the process, they can do that, too. People can engage with it in their own way.”

Challenging the viewer

Ebanks, who is Caymanian, has been involved in the previous biennial exhibitions as artist and juror, and he was the winner of the 2022 Bendel Hydes Award. Curating ‘Archipelago’ was about more than just choosing the pieces of art.

“We believe there’s a way to read art that is different from just instantly ‘getting it’,” he said. “We wanted to put things together in a way that makes conversation more challenging.”

Ebanks said one of his biggest takeaways from the experience of curating ‘Archipelago’ was seeing how the Cayman art scene has grown and evolved.

“It’s important that people from Cayman give voice to all the issues that are affecting Cayman, the region, and the world,” he said. “That is why it seemed appropriate to bring in an external curator like Joseph Underwood, who has a background that has exactly that. We should be proud that we can make that happen. This is the biggest and most ambitious biennale yet.”

To learn more about the show, visit Home – National Gallery of the Cayman Islands

Lynn Markoff is a freelance journalist who has written for publications in the Cayman Islands since 2017.