Minister of Health, Education & Welfare
Hon. Eileen Parsons admires some of the exhibits [Island Sun photo]

Millenium Committee Mounts Phoyographic Exhibition

Over sixty photographs of Virgin Islands scenes and people were on display as the Millennium Committee staged a photographic exhibition on the four main islands this week. This was the third in a series of Millennium exhibitions, the previous ones focussing on the architecture of the Virgin Islands.

The exhibition featured photographs from well-known local photographers such as Robert "Storm" Wright, Curtis De Ravariere, David Turnbull and Elroy Turnbull. Other photographers included Jack Ehlebracht, Jim Scheiner, Dougal Thornton, Phillip Fenty, Miguel Nichols, Macklin Fahie and Baboucar Sallah. They were able to capture scenes of coal pit making, festival and the performing arts, local people (students, elderly folk, entertainers and models) in different situations, plants and flowers, animals and infrastructure.

Some of the other scenes included shots of Cane Garden Bay, Saba Rock, Reefscape in Anegada, sunrise over Beef Island, sunset over Fat Hog's Bay, an aerial view of Sandy Pit, Oil Nut Bay on Virgin Gorda, the Heritage Dancers, Marina Cay and the sun rising over Round Rock in the Sir Francis Drake Channel. The first in the series of photographic exhibitions was held on Tortola Monday and Tuesday and also featured a display of the Virgin Islands in postcards. The exhibit also travelled to the Catholic Community Centre in Virgin Gorda on Wednesday, to the Resource Centre on Jost Van Dyke on Thursday and on Friday, the exhibition was mounted at the Methodist Church on Anegada.

Addressing the opening ceremony Monday morning, Millennium Committee Member Mrs. Josephine Callwood acknowledged the hard work of and thanked the members of the Millennium Committee, in particular the Chairperson Miss Ermin Penn and Secretary Miss Karen Maduro. "Your presence here this morning shows appreciation for all the effort shown in ensuring that the public is involved and aware of the rich cultural heritage and abundance of talents in our people," she told those who attended. Following the invocation by Father Jack Whyte, Chief Minister the Honourable Ralph T. O'Neal gave welcome remarks. He also commended the Millennium Committee for the work they have been doing. "It is indeed not an easy task and I'm glad to see that people are responding to it," the Chief Minister stated. He said the exhibition is most welcome. He noted the photographs of Virgin Islands scenes and said these should be preserved and used by the BVI Tourist Board in promoting the territory. "I am so glad to see many of you are capturing scenes, landscapes, seascapes etc. of life in the community that will be preserved for posterity sake. And we may not appreciate the value of these until perhaps years afterwards when we need to refresh our memories or when we look back at them and see what it used to be like," the Minister of Tourism said. He went on to note the importance of photography and noted that the Police have now started to take pictures of scenes of crimes so they could be produced in evidence according to the particular case.

The Chief Minister said he was glad to see the art is developing here in the British Virgin Islands, but hastened to add that he would have hoped to see more local photographers displaying their works. "I hope people will continue to take interest in photography and develop pictures of the islands." He said photography is important in recoding the history of the islands and he hoped this effort would continue, as well as the recording of events in music, painting, writing and poetry. "They help in the development process and we, in these islands, cannot only think of the economic side of things, we must also remember that...these things too, are important; our people must learn to appreciate the various things we have around us," Chief Minister O'Neal declared. He encouraged the photographers and other artists and pledged to them government's support.

There was a musical interlude, featuring percussionist David Turnbull and saxophonist Darwin "The Gun" Scatliffe, before the ceremony was declared open by Minister for Natural Resources and Labour the Honourable Julian Fraser. He remarked that the principles comprising the Millennium Project show four points, including an environmental revival and the recording of Virgin Islands history not yet recorded (by talking with the elderly and looking at photographs). "Photography is being referred to as an art form and, given my profession, I have a slight knowledge of the field...and I don't think to refer to it as an art form is doing it all the justice that it deserves," Hon. Fraser said. He said in fact, there is a lot of science to photography. He said photography is about capturing moments, every one of which is distinct and worth remembering. According to the Minister, the government of the Virgin Islands takes the Millennium Project seriously. He reminded residents that the project goes further than the Millennium Celebrations. "We take it so seriously that the appointment of the Director has been extended, say for another year." Mr. Fraser said if, as the Millennium Committee's mandate says, they are to encourage a philosophy for life in the third millennium through creativity in any field, this project is likely to be with us for quite some time.

The opening ceremony was also attended by Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Health, Education and Welfare the Honourable Eileene Parsons and Territorial Representative, opposition Legislator the Honourable Ronnie Skelton.