Kibwe Brathwaite | Photographer

Occasionally I encounter really impressive photographs that I wish I’d created myself to share.  Most of them are found online which makes for simple sharing. Other times I find them in magazines and books.  Thus I decided to introduce a series called Taking Pictures of Pictures, which entails me basically… well… taking pictures… of… well… ya know… pictures.  On Thursday 26th of April 2012, Medulla Art Gallery hosted the launch of a project I have been quite exited about since I heard about it.  It was the launch of a book called Pictures of Paradise : A Survey of Contemporary Caribbean Photography.

“Pictures from Paradise – the first in Robert & Christopher’s planned series of thematic explorations – seeks to examine the ways in which contemporary art photography has evolved within the English-speaking Caribbean, rising beyond idyllic scenes to tackle more intricate issues.” via arcthemagazine.com

I have not decided if I’m more in love with the concept or more in love with the actual book, but this was quite a refreshing project.  This brought together a team of outstanding artists from around the region to form Voltron in the form of a book.  Richard Mark Rawlins, a gentleman for whom I have an ever growing respect, designed the layout of the book that was edited by Melanie Archer and Mariel Brown. The book is a genre categorized curation of beautiful images that are not the stereotypical island-paradise images of sun-sand-and-sea, coconut trees, colonial architecture and bare back men performing limbo.

What I truly appreciated about this book is that it opened me to this body of image-makers of such esteemed caliber from the Caribbean that I never knew existed.  It serves as as a huge inspiration to me now cognizant of the people who are creating such standards of work, and that they all live right here in my own region, some on my own island, some in my own town.  It also breaks that culture of perceiving that anything produced at such high standard is produced by individuals outside of our regional circle.

Marvin Bartley

Marvin Bartley

Nadia Huggins

Nadia Huggins

Gerard Gaskin

Alex Smailes