It’s been 10 years since 18-year-old Brenton Smith was tragically shot by police. Now, his family is trying to heal from the wounds in an art collection called “The Brenton Story: Through Our Eyes”.

The art collection displays an array of paintings at the Central Bank Art Gallery depicting his brief life and the impact of his untimely death. It is the brainchild of renowned Bahamian artist Timothy Nottage and Hector Smith, Brenton’s father. 

“Eight years ago, Mr. Timothy Nottage, well he reached out to us and was talking about kids being involved and seeing what’s going on in the community and seeing what they can do, so he read our story. He used it as inspiration for his group of young artists’ students,” Mr. Smith explained.  

For the past year, the family has done a number of events largely focused on youth initiative.  The family held a chess championship, a primary school basketball classic and recently a martial arts tournament – all of Brenton’s hobbies. 

After the shooting, the Smith’s spent years trying to clear their son’s tainted reputation. Police were looking for two armed robbers, who robbed City Market food store on Village Road when they shot the teen as he walked towards the store. 

Initial reports painted the 18-year-old as the robber until he was cleared of any wrongdoing. Police officer Leslie Munreo was found by the jurors of Coroner’s Court to have acted in self-defense. 

“Lies from the beginning and these are things that were documented.  These are things that shown not be have been true and no one has step forward to say, ‘Hey, you know what, we’re sorry’. Nobody, it’s 10 years,” Mr. Smith said.    

Now the family wants their son’s legacy to be defined by the unity Brenton was known for.

“He cared about people. The majority of his friends were disenfranchised kids people,” Mr. Smith said.    

“We only doing a part of what we think he would have done. What is so sad is what he could have done over the years and that is so sad. We need to embrace our youth. We need to show our youth that their life has value and that there is justice.” 

The collection runs August 16 – 30.