FOR THE NEXT few weeks, Barbadians are invited to take a look at the past through the eyes and lens of Rasheed Boodhoo.
The Heritage Chronicle art exhibition has been mounted at the Errol Barrow Centre For Creative Imagination of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. Boodhoo, a self-proclaimed image maker, said it was about taking people for a stroll down memory lane.
“It’s about nostalgia, as well as trying to get schoolchildren here [to see Barbados as it was in the past]. It’s not about showing my skills as a photographer but documenting the history of the island and the way I look at it,” he said.
Boodhoo said he never considered himself a bona fide photographer, but rather an artist, and had originally taken the photographs in order to use them as scenes for oil portraits.
However, he said this all changed when director of the centre, Professor Gladstone Yearwood, saw his work.
“For me, it was more about the beauty of the work rather than the snapshot. I had never set out to have an exhibition but then something happened; people started giving me praise and I won some awards at NIFCA.
“The exhibition is all thanks to Yearwood, who saw a couple of the photos and loved them and decided he was going to give me a show,” he said.
Boodhoo also thanked curator Ashanti Trotman, as well as deputy director of the centre, DeCarla Applewhaite, adding it was a pleasure to be recognised and appreciated for his effort.
He said he would be taking part in another show next week with the Barbados Photography Society in Queen’s Park and a joint show with artists Denzel Mann and Neville Legall in March at the Barbados Arts Council in Pelican Village. (CA)