Judges named for BNG’s biennial exhibition
The Bermuda National Gallery has announced the judging panel for its upcoming biennial exhibition.
Akili Tommasino, a curator of modern and contemporary art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Julie Crooks, a curator of the Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora at the Art Gallery of Ontario, will be the jurors of the 2026 showcase.
Submissions to the 2026 Bermuda Biennial will open in September 2025 and close in January.
The winning pieces will be on display at the BNG from June to December next year.
The BNG issued an open call to Bermudian artists and those resident on the island to take part in the flagship event, which the entity said has been at the core of the contemporary local art scene since its inception in 1994.
The event, which is sponsored by the Green family, provides local artists with a platform and the opportunity to have their work seen by some of the foremost art professionals in the world.
Akili Tommasino joined The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2021, where he most recently organised Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt.
Previously, he held curatorial positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and at the Museum of Modern Art.
In 2020, along with his wife, Amanda Herrera Tommasino, he launched Pana Projects, an arts and education initiative in the Caribbean.
A former Fulbright Fellow at the Centre Pompidou, Mr Tommasino is a doctoral candidate at Harvard University, where he earned his masters and bachelor’s degrees.
Julie Crooks has been a curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario since 2017.
Her recent curatorial projects at the AGO include Free. Black. North (2017); Mickalene Thomas: Femmes Noires (2018); and Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s (2023).
She holds a doctorate from the Department of History of Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
In 2020, Dr Crooks initiated the new Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora department at the AGO, with the goal of addressing historic gaps and erasures related to the representation of Africa and its diasporas through programming, acquisitions and exhibitions.
The exhibition is recognised by the International Biennial Association and works are selected by a rotating cast of overseas jurors.
Jennifer Phillips, the executive director of the BNG, said the exhibition stands out as a critical opportunity for Bermudian and Bermudian-based artists to have their work reviewed by esteemed international art professionals.
She said: “We continue elevating the biennial in its newest iteration, with the participation of curators from The Met and the Art Gallery of Ontario.”
Mr Tommasino said he was thrilled to take part in the event and to connect with the island’s art community.
He said Bermuda has always been special to him, being the home of a large contingent of his extended family.
Dr Crooks said: “I am deeply honoured to be invited, along with my esteemed colleague Akili Tommasino, to serve as a juror for the 2026 Bermuda Biennial.
“I look forward to collaborating with the vibrant and multifaceted community of artists in Bermuda.”
• For more information, visitbng.bm/2026-bermuda-biennial
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