In these challenging times, art connects our communities. With the gallery temporarily closed, the Bermuda National Gallery is focusing on their digital output and will be producing a series of editorial features on their website www.bng.bm which they will be sharing over the coming weeks.In the meantime, the gallery continues to inspire Bermuda’s community through art, culture and dialogue on their Instagram channel @bermuda_nationalgallery. Independent Curator and co-curator of the 2020 Bermuda Biennial, Melissa Messina will be taking over the BNG instagram account this week. For over 15 years Messina has dedicated her curatorial practice to promoting the work of women artists, as well as other artists marginalized by race and geographic location, and often uses her instagram profile to create additional platforms of visibility and awareness for this work. For the remainder of March, in celebration of Women’s History Month, she is creating daily posts at @melissa_messina using the hashtag #ExposureWithoutExposure for femaleidentifying artists whose exhibitions have been cut short due to the efforts to stop exposure of the Coronavirus. This coming week, she will utilize the BNG instagram profile to highlight the 10 female artists whose work is included in the Bermuda Biennial this year. She describes the digital initiative as a way “to shed light on women artists whose work is all-too-often overshadowed anyway and give exposure to their efforts even as we shelter in place.” The 2020 Bermuda Biennial, sponsored by Bacardi Limited, is a key platform for the contemporary art scene in Bermuda. Started in 1994 by the Bermuda National Gallery, this year marks the 14th iteration of the Biennial and its continuing representation of the vitality and creativity of local artists. For further information please contact executive director Peter Lapsley at director@bng.bm. • Press release from the Bermuda National Gallery