Art at the Airport

The Art at the Airport initiative was presented by the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands (NGCI) for the reopening of the newly expanded Owen Robert’s International Airport (ORIA). It was designed to precede the launch of a formal ORIA Public Art programme, developed by NGCI in partnership with the Cayman Islands Airport Authority. Situated across several areas of the airport, the inaugural displays are drawn entirely from the National Gallery’s permanent collection and past exhibitions, and includes artworks by nationally recognised, award-winning artists and artisans.

The new airport facility is now a world-class gateway for passengers to the Cayman Islands and our project was designed to further enrich the airport experience by providing visitors from around the world access to Cayman’s unique cultural life in a wide variety of visual art forms. Through excerpts of past exhibitions, the National Gallery sought to explore key areas of Cayman’s visual heritage — maritime history, traditional thatch craft, architecture, archival photography, and contemporary visual art.

The displays are exhibits from the following preceding exhibitions:

Now & Then by Courtney Platt (Check In area of the Great Hall).  The popular photography series, which shows the Cayman Islands of the 1950s, was developed in 2012 in collaboration with NGCI and the Cayman Islands National Archive. The images merge scenes of the past with scenes of the present side by side, and together they form a fascinating tapestry of an evolving society and industry.

Cayman Panorama – Things That Exist Only in My Fading Memory by Shane “Dready” Aquârt is a 105-foot-long survey of iconic Caymanian buildings that has been installed in the mezzanine level of the Great Hall. The vibrant images capture Cayman’s landmark architecture in Dready’s signature style with pops of vibrant colour, simplicity of style, irreverent humour, and playful commentary. The popular series was exhibited in 2013 at the National Gallery Dart Auditorium, spanning across entire walls.

Maritime Art from the National Collection, which is on display in the Arrival area of the Greeting Hall, displays reproductions of artwork from the National Collection. This exhibit was curated specifically for the unveiling of the new airport to honour Cayman’s intrinsic relationship with the ocean.  Featured artists include Wray Banker, Gladwyn K. “Miss Lassie” Bush, Randy Chollette, Chris Christian, Al Ebanks, Bendel Hydes, Charles Long, Miguel Powery, Brandon Saunders, Joanne Sibley, Gordon Solomon, Nasaria Suckoo Chollette, Simon Tatum, and Janet Walker.

REVIVE – Caymanian Craft, an exhibition developed by the National Gallery in 2017, showcases samples of Cayman’s long craft traditions.  Works by celebrated craftspersons such as Marlena Anglin, Carmen Connolly, Annalee Ebanks, Annie Joy Ebanks, Deal Ebanks, Rosemay Ebanks, Horacio Esteban, and Lizzie Powell sit side by side with contemporary craft makers and designers Isy B, Virginia Foster, Simon Tatum, and Kathryn Elphinstone to illustrate the ways in which local craft continues to evolve. These works are presented in cabinets in the Arrival area of the Great Hall.

The final display features a single large-format public artwork by Kaitlyn Elphinstone, who was one of 42 artists currently to exhibit in the very first National Gallery Cayman Islands Biennial. Entitled Coral Tiles (Contemporary Anthropocentric Tile Design) (2019), the digital collage is created from a combination of coral patterns and fretwork designs, which comments on our intricate relationship with our surrounding landscapes. This artwork was the only multi-site public art project submitted for the Cayman Islands Biennial and it infused several districts by appearing at the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands, the Little Cayman Museum, and at the following venues in Cayman Brac in April 2019: Charles Kirkconnell International Airport, Panama Canal Boat Launch, The Market Place, and Brac Scuba Shack.

NGCI Special Project Manager Emérentienne Paschalides, who was coordinating the Art at the Airport project with National Gallery Director, Natalie Urquhart and the NGCI curatorial team, explained the choice of artworks: “With the strong belief that public art reflects and reveals our society, we have selected a broad range of important key artworks, both traditional and contemporary, from representational to abstract styles and in a variety of genre and media, while remaining consistent with an overall theme. Seen collectively, these works begin to tell the story of our Islands’ unique art history from past to present. It is the start of what we hope will be a long and creative collaboration with the airport that will provide multiple opportunities for artists moving forward.”