Exhibition shows work of artist who died too young
There may be controversy about the circumstances of his death, but there is no doubt that twenty-two year old Eder Alamilla died with a future of artistic achievement ahead of him. A month-long exhibition of Alamilla’s work is about to open in Belize City and this morning Jacqueline Woods got a preview.
Lisel Alamilla, Sister
?You know it?s not a matter of trying to bring media attention to like, oh Eder was this great artist rah, rah, rah, he was a young man who had a great future and his life was cut short.?
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
In life, Eder Alamilla wanted to hold an exhibition to showcase the paintings he created over a ten year period. Today, his family has fulfilled that wish by putting on display twenty-eight pieces of their loved one?s best artwork.
Lisel Alamilla
?This is something that Eder spoke about. He was waiting to graduate from sixth form and he was saying that he would do that in the summer after graduating, so this is the summer after graduating which I mean, this is the summer after he would have graduated really, so we just thought we would go ahead with it and just share it with the public.?
?I don?t ever remember him not painting really. Art has always been a part of his life in some shape or form. I think originally he started more creative writing, I remember him being a very good writer when he was in elementary school and, that being recognised.?
?He great dreams that he would be one of Belize?s great artists and we just thought have a look at him. He is not painting any flowers any trees, any seascapes, you know the usual.?
?One of the pieces which of course I saw when I returned from my trip when he had just died was one depicting my son?s struggle with cancer. He wasn?t someone who communicated by email a lot or gave me a phone call, but clearly it is evident by his painting that he was thinking about it.?
?One of the things that we found kind of eerie is that the last painting, according to my sister, was one that depicts this kind of closed gate to like this dark forest to nowhere. And if you are like into you know looking at things in hindsight and say was this foretelling of what the future held, I don?t know. Another one that he did for my mother very young in 1997 was one of him and my mother depicting a child and Madonna, but he said ?This is you and me mom,? when he gave it to her for her birthday.?
Alamilla says she is not sure if every viewer will appreciate the work that her brother did, but each piece represents the artist?s own style of painting. Jacqueline Woods for News Five.
The exhibition officially opens tonight at the Image Factory and will be on display for one month. Alamilla’s death by gunshot has been treated as a suicide although family members have raised the issue that foul play may have been involved.
