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The Studios Exhibition: Ghost in Bahama Village

Date/Time

February 5, 2026 - February 26, 2026
10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Event content

Ransome explores the layered history of Key West’s Bahama Village, once a vibrant and self-sustaining community shaped by Black Bahamians, Cubans, Chinese immigrants, and other people of color. Through evocative imagery, the exhibition honors the neighborhood’s resilience during segregation and celebrates the cultural richness that once defined its streets.

Ransome traces the rise of Bahama Village during the Jim Crow era, when residents, barred from white establishments, built their own schools, churches, shops, and gathering spaces. Skilled in crafts and trades, they fueled a parallel economy and created a strong sense of place. But this is also a story of absence. As opportunities elsewhere called and systemic pressures mounted, the community’s presence began to fade.

Ransome was born in North Carolina and moved to a New Jersey suburb as a teenager. He graduated from Pratt Institute and was a tenured professor in the School of Visual Performing Arts at Syracuse University before retiring to pursue his dreams of being a studio artist.  He received his MFA in Studio Arts from Lesley University.