Belize, 2021

This photographic series titled Belize is an intentionally touristic depiction of the location depicting architecture, attractions, and other elements while following many aspects of 19th-century travel books. This grouping of photos most accurately depicts space and objects in a romantic, yet documentative manner, while the compositions, framing, lighting, and edits serve to enhance the visuals, giving each photograph a surreal or larger-than-life quality.

In the manner of depicting place, the series follows a touristic journey centered around Lamanai, a location that highlights its archeological purpose and dual function as a tourist attraction. From this juncture, the series follows the route from San Pedro to Belize City, marked by air travel and several landmasses leading up to the next destination being the New River, which leads to the archeological site. This part of the journey is marked by the port and tourist attraction, McAfee’s house. Lastly, the series is capped with exotic plants which serve to round out the series as an experience considered ‘new’ and add to a layer of mystery or fascination.

As a whole, this series is based heavily on aesthetics because of a fascination with tourism and its components. By depicting Belize in this manner, many of the same sentiments carried by the travel books as aforementioned are realized. The photograph, in this case, serves to not only document but subsequently create interest by saying “This is the place to visit, and these are the things you will see.” And by creating a series focused on aesthetics and an underlying message, the depicted places themselves become important and an appreciation for these places is generated. For example, if the Eiffel Tower was never depicted in a romantic lens repetitiously, then it would lose some of its whimsy and generate smaller amounts of appreciation which can be applied to many other sites of tourism. So by depicting lesser-known or trafficked sites in this manner, a new market may come into fruition, and efforts to preserve may come to be.