The latest instalment in the Neighbourhood Project was unveiled last month to the delight of local audiences.

Titled, The Great Exposition, the gallery is the newest part of a 20-year-long series created by award-winning Barbadian artist and BCC tutor, Ewan Atkinson.

Atkinson explained that the Neighbourhood Project is a story about a fictional community that satirises our own, using what he calls “artifacts” and ongoing stories to comment on Caribbean culture and history.

The project returns to the island after being displayed in numerous foreign galleries, including the Cookhouse Gallery in England and the Prospect 6 Triennial in New Orleans.

“As a teacher in a bachelor's program that lacks access to seeing art, I see how it affects the learning process all the time. It's just not enough to look at art in a book or online. The experience of seeing art and experiencing an exhibition in a space is something that I wish we could give them more often... so it was really important for me to bring it home.”

The work was hosted at the Queen’s Park Gallery and attended by guests familiar and fresh.

Atkinson was particularly pleased by how a new generation of onlookers responded to the work. He explained that while Gen Z may not be the target audience for the pieces, the purpose of his art has always been to provoke questions, and he was excited to see them engaging with that aspect.

Hinting that the story of the Neighbourhood is far from over, Atkinson promised that more galleries would come, revealing more about the mystery of the world he’s been so dutifully developing.

In the meantime, he encouraged everyone interested to visit his website and digital archive of the project thus far, www.theneighbourhoodproject.com.

The artist revealed that he plans to release a digital catalogue of The Great Exposition on his and the National Cultural Foundation’s (NCF) websites along with a critical essay by BCC stalwart Dr. Allison Thompson.

While a timeline for the full project would be almost impossible to project, Atkinson explained that the story of The Neighbourhood will have a conclusion one day, but that mystery would always be a part of the series.

“There will be an end. The Neighbourhood will fall or maybe it's already fallen. What happens in between now and then, I don't know.”