Eddie Minnis Created Political Satire That Didn’t Choose Sides

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NASSAU, THE BAHAMAS – Immortalized in an on-going exhibit at the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, Potluck, the satirical drawings of legendary Bahamian artist Eddie Minnis – remind today’s audiences of a time not so long ago – when our political leaders and prominent Bahamians were made fun of through daily newspapers without the vitriol and mean-spirited characterisations we see in some of today’s depictions.

For 10 years, the political satire of Eddie Minnis’ Potluck gave the audience a view of the news, through a ‘not so serious’ lens. It was happening at a time when serious political and national crisis gripped the country.

So, what’s changed?

“Many people who have seen the exhibition have said that, I can change the date on many of those cartoon to 2026, and nothing has changed. Once cartoon saying: we won’t have anymore blackouts in the power grid” – Eddie Minnis

Minnis’ creations are long gone for the daily newspaper publications.

The daily hurmours musings of potluck and later sideburns, have been replaced largely by the weaponisation of social media. Memes, heavily edited video clips and more recently AI-generated images and situations.

Unlike the majority of the unknown – hidden authors of today’s online “so called satire,”, Eddie Minnis was a household name.

So what made his work acceptable? He admits he had no allegiance or fear.

“If you’re gonna do a political cartoon, you’ve got to be fearless. And I was told that we had freedom of speech. And used it. I didn’t censor myself and because I was “A” political and not into politics, I dealt with each side the very same way. And many asked, “you ain’t scared. Many of those people who they thought would be offended, were eventually asking for copies of the cartoons that they would frame and put in their office.“- Eddie Minnis

Unlike what we see today, the political satire of potluck was not driven by political ambition.

Patronage or pay, it was pure art, from a talented Bahamian who loved making readers smile – every day.

“Doing a cartoon everyday, I didn’t have time to worry about who was offended or who wasn’t offended. I was telling the truth, as a I saw it.” – Eddie Minnis

And that truth, is the key ingredient many of us struggle to find in a landscape overwhelmed with content designed to influence and not to simply entertain.