The Image Factory Art Foundation is this year celebrating it's 10th year. To use a much turned phrase, it's been a decade of decadence, as the art gallery has always pushed the envelope of contemporary art in Belize, even when no one really cared enough to push it back. In honor of that spirit and ambition, a new exhibit has been mounted. It's called 'Lotta Pichaz', and the exhibit traces the photographic history of Belize over the past 100 years or so. Director of the Factory, Yasser Musa, says the exhibit is more than just pictures, it tells the story of Belize through photographic vignettes.
Yasser Musa, Image Factory Director
"We've managed to put together an exhibition with images from 1895 right up until just last week 2005. I think we've managed to get a basic feeling as to what has gone on for the last 110 years or so in the area of photography."
"Photography has an enormous power in our lives. We judge things and we evaluate things through images and people read pictures far more than they read books so I believe that a photo show gives the opportunity for a wide variety of people to be able to look at history through the lens of a photographer. While it traces the history of photography, meaning we have early pictures and new pictures, it also gives you a direct view into our history and while we don't have a lot of captions explaining all the pictures, I think its an opening into history. It is not necessarily a complete history but it at least opens the door to what has happened over the last 110 years."
The show combines pictures from private collections, the archives, and recognized contemporary photographers. It runs for three weeks.
