Richard Holder is a celebrated Belizean photographer. One of his most provocative pieces is his interpretation of the Last Supper - in it, Jesus and his disciples are all Rasta men. Holder said he gathered his Rasta wash-men and snapped the photo of them. Well Holder went out into the streets again for his latest exhibit.
Courtney Weatherburne reporting
He calls himself the Original Ice-man. He has been selling these snow cones all over city streets since 1997.
And she is known as Cemetery Road's best for Belizean food - Dorla. We buy from these people and see them around almost every day working hard and selling their specialties. But really these vendors aren't highlighted or appreciated as small business owners.
Artist Richard Holder does just that in his exhibit called Social Media for the People but
As the name suggests, it goes beyond the Image Factory walls.
Holder created a facebook page called #SM4TP featuring these vendors.
Richard Holder, Artist
"These people for the most part have lived from before social media. They come right into the social media age and you know a lot of old school people jump in from negative to digital for example and you know that is a big deal some people are kind of forgotten in time because they are not able to participate. So all of these people don't have business pages or anything like that, they don't know how to go about at this moment creating a sponsored post and that takes use of a credit card, finances, you know, you really have to know to tweak this. These are real people and that is what I like about them in a sense they are not tainted by the social media bubble, they are living in the real world and that is fascinating by itself so here I am and that is where I come into the picture to give them a chance to be on social media in a professional context with these striking images."
"So in a sense it is designed to help them to sell, just like how you want, you want info, contact where they are and what they have, that is what we are doing for them."
So it's a seamless merger between business and art - a process Holder says re-ignited his passion for capturing the raw and real life in the city.
Richard Holder, Artist
"I think the thread that this series with some of my past work is the street as the subject."
The exhibit open tomorrow at 6 at the Image factory. The vendors featured in the exhibit will also be there.
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