Melissa Alcena
Alcena is a Bahamian portrait and documentary photographer based in Nassau, The Bahamas. Alcena’s practice is the lens through which she reintroduces herself to the Bahamian landscape. Through this exploration and reintroduction, Alcena documents people in situ, expanding the visual tropes often exported from the Caribbean. Stylistically, Alcena grounds the image in chiaroscuro while balancing the natural colors of the terrain. Often in conversation with her subjects, Alcena’s photographs are a testament to kinship and an ode to the landscape.
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“I love watching people and seeing their characters come out. Sometimes I’ll see things I want to try and capture at another time. I feel like some moments shouldn’t be interrupted and should just be enjoyed.”
— Melissa Alcena, Cacique International
Past Exhibitions
November 11 - December 10, 2022
In Situ
TERN Gallery is proud to present In Situ, a solo exhibition by Melissa Alcena, a Bahamian photographer. In Situ represents the dichotomy of Alcena’s approach as a documentarian photographer and fine art photographer who centers Bahamians in their totality. The exhibition comprises over twenty (20) photographs spanning Alcena’s practice over the past five years.
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August 26 - October 30, 2021
The Other Side of The Pentaprism
The pentaprism is a five-faced reflective surface that refracts light at a 90 degree angle. This type of prism is used in a traditional single-lens reflex camera, re-inverting the image in the viewfinder that is sent to the eye by the camera’s lens. The lens initially reverses the image both vertically and laterally and the prism then re-inverts it. Hence, the image that is received by your brain has been transformed in order to deliver you a version of “reality”.
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