Photographer compares Belize and Mexico
It opened last week at the Mexican Cultural Institute and has been receiving strong reviews. Today News 5’s Patrick Jones dropped in to see what has become an annual photographic event.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
The full colour photographs are Noel Escalante’s tribute to the cultures of Belize and our neighbour to the north. Escalante says it took him a year to put the photographic documentary together.
Noel Escalante, Amateur Photographer
“Last year I was doing the exhibition for tribute to Belizean culture and events and I did a lot of travelling around Belize, especially in the northern districts and I saw a lot of culture in the northern districts that were similar with that of Mexico. And I decide to do a little spin off from that cultural exhibition last year to include Mexico this year, trying to get a little bit of similarity, taking Belizean culture a bit further by taking it out of the usual boundaries of Belize itself and taking it across borders to Mexico.”
Escalante says visitors to the exhibition should view his cultural comparison with an open mind.
Noel Escalante
“I have found a lot of our traditions have roots from different places. We have roots from the Caribbean, we have roots from the Africa, we have roots from the Mexican, we have roots from the British and it’s good for us to explore and to research all of these roots so that Belizeans on a whole can learn and enjoy what Belize has to offer.”
But these are more than just pretty pictures. Escalante says the two hundred photographs that are on display hold an important lesson for children and adults alike.
Noel Escalante
“I would especially like the students from many primary schools and high schools to attend this exhibition because it is something that is very historical. It is something that is very educational, and a lot of our children would probably enjoy the exhibition because it is in pictures. If there is a lot of writing and a lot reading to do, I guess they would find it boring. But having a lot of pictures there would be sort of a very educational venture for a lot of not only the kids, but for all the teachers to attend and see.”
Patrick Jones, for News 5.
When it ends on Friday the exhibition moves over to Chetumal for three weeks and will find its final resting place at the House of Culture in Orange Walk in the first two weeks of December.
