He paints the things you feel but cannot point to. Spirit. Memory. The quiet pull of forces that shape a life without ever announcing themselves. Miami Art Week. Cayman Art Week. A Central Bank residency and a piece now living in their permanent collection. But ask Eddion Whyms what the work is really about and he will not point to the résumé. He points to the men who came before him, to the rules young Bahamian men inherit and are told not to question, and to a single idea: vulnerability is not the opposite of strength. Meet the painter rewriting how Black men are seen, one layer at a time.
What is the first thing you want someone to know about your work that a caption could never tell them?
That my journey began with a desire to build a personal relationship with God. The journey I am on is less about myself and more about honoring the people that came before me, understanding the people that walk beside me, and exploring how those connections shape who we might become.
Miami. Cayman. A Central Bank residency. When did you realize this was actually working?
I don’t think there was a defining moment. I am still learning and developing as an artist, in my emerging phase. Each opportunity showed that the work could travel, and that the possibilities are endless. Spending time helping with The Bahamas Pavilion at the Venice Biennale showed me what was possible on an international level, and how the visions we have belong to conversations far beyond where they began.
Your work lives in the space between what is seen and unseen. What do people find in your paintings that they did not walk in expecting?
A lot of the time people expect religious ideologies and mythologies. But they leave with a feeling of returning home to a place we didn’t know existed. Recently someone visited my studio during a difficult period in their life and told me about the comfort the works brought them. It reminds me of how art sometimes holds space in ways words cannot.
You paint through a male lens while questioning the rules placed on men. What do you want your work to say to Bahamian young men?
I want them to know that vulnerability is not the opposite of strength. We have inherited so many ideas of what masculinity is that it leaves little room for tenderness, doubt, and spiritual curiosity. My work offers another possibility, where softness, reflection and transformation are a form of strength.
What are you building toward that nobody has seen yet?
I don’t think I am building toward one final destination. Right now I am focused on growing, learning, and allowing each experience to shape myself and my practice. I trust that if I stay open to the process, the work will become what it needs to be.
Where can we see the work next?
Mythologies of Manhood, a group exhibition opening August 6th 2026 at the D’Aguilar Art Foundation. And keep an eye out. There is more coming this year.
Follow Eddion at @eddion.whyms because he is most definitely one to watch.
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