Artists celebrate Bob Marley’s birthday

On February sixth, musical artists around the world will celebrate the birthday of reggae icon Robert Nesta Marley. Belizean artists Gilvano Swasey and Sergio Hoare will express the love and spiritual connection they feel for Bob Marley through a display filled with images of “Bob”. They have put on this show every February since 1995. Swasey says he wants people to know the real Bob Marley.

Gilvano Swasey, Artist

“A lot of people hear his music but I believe many people don’t even know how he looks and they just confuse him with any other Rastaman. So we decided we’d do a documentation and the exhibition has grown from just a couple sketches that we have done to more colorful pieces from different artists we’ve encountered. A lot of young artists have used Bob Marley as an inspiration right and I have acquired it through the people that I know. I mean Belize is very small and being at the Image Factory, we meet a lot of artists and so I decided to do a collection because I was collecting books and stickers and I met these artists and I get the pieces from them. What I like about this exhibition is that its gone to another step, first when we started out, it’s was more just a visual part, where it was just the visual part, just looking, now its gone to the ears where there’s a video and they’ll be music. I believe Bob Marley and his music will never die and it will always be going on and on and on.”

The exhibition is on display at the House of Culture for the month of February and is free. This Sunday the House of Culture will host a reggae concert featuring J-Vibes, World Culture Band, Efrain Craig, Junior Lion and Fahima. The concert begins at noon. A five-dollar donation is being asked for adults and two dollars for students with id. Children are free. Food and drinks will be on sale.