Ever since the Bermuda National Gallery began the Bermuda Biennial Art Exhibition back in 1994, it has been contentious. The current biennial exhibition is possibly no less so, although the usual uproar from certain segments of the art community is conspicuously absent this year.

The general consensus, it seems, is that this present show is the best yet. Having recently studied all the Biennial catalogues since 1996, the year the Biennial catalogue was first produced, I concur. Furthermore, one well known Biennial participant recently said that he thought the recent growth in artistic creativity in Bermuda is primarily due to the stimulus provided by the Biennial.

The process for admission to the Biennial has always been by selection by well-known overseas jurors who are carefully chosen and well known and successful in their area of artistic endeavour. Furthermore, every effort is made to keep the jurors away from the participants until after all decisions have been completed. The jurors have always held to very high standards, but possibly, this year, they placed the bar even higher than before and Bermuda's artists rose to meet the level of excellence demanded.

The Biennial is notably diverse, with a range of paintings, both abstract and realistic in a variety of media, plus drawings, collage, photographs, woodcuts, etchings, sculpture, assemblage, as well as installations. Several artists have made works that confront political and social issues.

As you enter the Gallery, the first work encountered is an installation by Katherine Harriott called 'Law of the First Night'. This work was also the recent winner of $10,000 Charman Prize, which is granted annually through the Masterworks Foundation and is underwritten by John Charman. The work is made of various materials, but primarily of screen wire and is thus "see through".

Within are a variety of "possessions", such as farm fields and toy farm animals. It seems to suggest that, in the opinion of some males, women are considered possessions and toys. Another installation by Ms Harriott is found on the upper mezzanine and is entitled 'Accessibility'. This work is notable for its inaccessibility. Barbed wire fills the space in front of what appears to be an area of display along the back wall, thus preventing close viewing. Just in front of the back wall are three plinths upon which three large ostrich eggs are on show. What does this work mean? Do the eggs symbolise the feminine?

I came across one person who thought that the whiteness and the wire stood for inaccessibility to the white community by blacks. This may not have necessarily been the artist's intention, but we bring to art our own experience and interpretation and this interpretation does fall within the mandate of the work; that is, the inaccessibility between all kinds of groups, even within our own small community. Another controversial work is John Gardner's 'Rape and Murder of Rebecca Middleton'. This large watercolour is the centrepiece of the Main Gallery and is basically abstract. According to the artist, it is an expression of his response to this heinous crime.

Once you realise what the subject is, however, this changes the way you see the painting. On first encounter it seems just a large abstract, but once you see the title, which is written at the bottom of the painting, most begin to seek for appropriate symbols within.

A tiny but engaging and creative contribution is Louisa Bermingham Flannery's four collages made of a mixture of ink drawings and human hair. The artist pointed out that hair on one's head is fine, but anywhere else is taboo. These works confront this convention.

Al Dounouk's 'Sunshine of My Mind' is an example of new developments in non-toxic printmaking. His work is a mix of intaglio, or the etching process and "chin colle".

The latter is a process where coloured tissue paper is coated with glue and then placed, glue side up on the etching plate and run through the press.

The pressure of the press adheres the tissue to the final printed paper. It is a simple way of adding colour to a print without the usual involvement of multiple plates and the problems of correct colour registration.

Another printmaker is Vaughan Evans, who, it seems, has been concentrating on woodcuts for a while now. For the Biennial he has produced two works; one, a colour print entitled 'Lusac Church', the other is called 'Somers Day'. It shows a view of the boats moored or tied up at the Foot of the Lane.

There are a number of new artists in this year's Biennial. Of note is Miles Manders, whose ink drawings are full of imagination and surreal invention. These are not the kind of drawings that can be easily produced; rather, they are labour-intensive, time-consuming creations. I understand that this is the first exhibition of his art, ever, which is also noteworthy. This is like heading for Carnegie Hall for your first musical recital. Incidentally, Mr. Manders is better known in musical circles.

Another new artist in this show is Molly Godet, who has made a name for herself in the last couple years here for her bold, strong approach to watercolour. She is exhibiting a painting called 'The Edge of Civilization'. In the foreground is a well-manicured lawn and hedge, but beyond that are wildly distributed rocks, trees and bushes. and then the ocean.

Interestingly, Molly Godet's son, Charles Godet Thomas, also new in the show, has contributed four pieces, including what appears to be a priest's vestment called 'Sweatshop 'Til You Drop (Primark Clothing)'. In his artist statement, he said that he hoped that his work stimulates questions in the mind of the viewer, rather than providing answers. To be sure, his art has a strong conceptual component.

Of all the paintings in the show, several highly realistic pieces stand out. I am thinking of Sharon Wilson's 'The Wait', Lisa-Anne Rego's 'Apricot Harmony', Marion Watlington-Vorley's 'Paw Paw Montespan' and Tracy Williams' 'Banana Plant'. Much pleasure is derived from the contemplation of the visible world and painting it the way these artists do, carefully depicting each detail, must be a kind of meditation.

Some may think of a photograph as a simple, straight-forward shot of whatever is in front of the camera. Nothing could be further from the truth; indeed, a photographer is an artist with all the technical skills at his/her command to use as he/she sees fit and can be just as varied as any other art form. About half this present Biennial is photography, but that is about the only thing these artists have in common.

Take the works of Theresa Airey and compare them with that of Scott Hill. In Ms Airey's case, she began with a traditional collage, which was then photographed. In Mr. Hill's 'Cab # 1,2,3 – Reflection', he uses distortion as seen in a reflected surface, such as a car or shop window. Ms Airey's photographs seem antique, which is what the artist intended. Mr. Hill's seems of our time and is full of the energy that makes New York what it is. In each of his photographs, there is the distorted image of a yellow cab.

Antoine Hunt's three cyanotypes of leaves and other aspects of vegetation are striking. This is an old photographic process that is typically used in making blueprints, but Hunt uses it as a high art. The procedure was first discovered in 1842 by Sir John Herschel, the 19th century English scientist. He passed the procedure on to Anna Atkins, another scientist, who used it in making prints of algae, ferns and other plants, much as Antoine Hunt is doing.

Scott Stallard's photographs also appear as collage and indeed, they are what is called a photomontage. This is a special kind of collage. He selects elements from his many photographs and carefully cuts them out and combines them into this new creation. He says that his intention is to give the viewer a greater, fuller experience of the journey he has made to wherever. The sensitivity he brings to the combining of all these disparate elements is impressive.

For some years, Ian Macdonald-Smith has been photographing reflection in water. The one in the current Biennial is especially arresting and seems more an abstract painting than a photograph. Since it is printed on canvas, the sense of painting is further enhanced.

Meredith Andrews' photographs are sophisticated and at the same time banal, surreal and conceptual. These are not qualities we usually think of as belonging together and yet, in her photographs they seem to work. The subject at first seems commonplace, but that is a useful device to sneak up on you and then suddenly you are hit with the strangeness of what you are viewing that includes all these other just mentioned qualities. Her 'CCCP' recalls the former Soviet Union, but in the photograph, this is a sign for a fast food diner. The photograph is a straight on view of an ordinary, inexpensive food joint and even the lighting is bland. The Communist style is being used as a setting for capitalism, however, and this helps makes the picture particularly engaging.Other photographers in the exhibition are Margie Harriott, who recently had her work accepted in the Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy, Jill Amos Raine and Martha Vaughn.

Several artists are engaged in making three-dimensional creations; of these, Will Collieson, Shelly Hamill and Peter Lapsley have contributed large works that capture one's attention. Mr. Collieson's work falls within the parameters of assemblage, while Ms Hamill is applying mosaic to the human figure. Mr. Lapsley's contribution is a wood construction especially made for and put together right in the BNG. This Bermuda Biennial is one to see.

At no other time in the Bermuda art calendar, is it possible to see such diversity and it comes only every two years. The Exhibition continues through September 4.