3rd May 2022
Jeremy Richards once again gave us an excellent presentation last week on Cartagena de Indias in Columbia. Unlike his usual road trippy presentations this one was area specific and succeeded in portraying a whole atmosphere of this place. The presentation was constructed by using images taken on different times of day on different days in different years.
In the 16century Cartagena was the main staging post for gold and silver which lead to many battles for ownership (unsurprisingly these still go on today). There is currently a ship which has been identified at the bottom of the sea which purportedly contains 11 million gold coins (in one ship…. and there were convoys of ships for 100’s of years - imagine!) Liz Bugg wanted to know where all the ships have been sunk! Spain is organising the salvage of the ship and claims ownership: Columbia however claims ownership because the ship is in Columbia: but Peru and Bolivia claim ownership because the ship originates from there and so it goes on!
There are many harbours in Cartagena and the area has a rich maritime history: even Sir Francis Drake got in on the act and at one time lived there - Jeremy showed us an image of his house, Casa Drake from which Drake received ransoms from the local people. Not such a popular figure then, there are current ghost stories using Drake as the main character still told to children. During this time Cartagena was fortified and the old fort is the biggest in South America (Castillo San Felipe) and during the second half of his presentation Jeremy showed us many images of this wonderful building.
Strangely and randomly Cartagena hosts an annual Hay festival (this festival began in Hay on Wye in the late 1980’s and has now expanded internationally with sister festivals taking place in Aarhus, Arequipa, Nairobi, Dhaka, Zacatecas, the Maldives, Kerala at Thiruvananthapuram, Beirut, Belfast, Cartagena, the Alhambra Palace, Parc Prison in Bridgend and Segovia. In 2009 Hay Festival also took on the ailing Brecon Jazz Festival. It is run by a not-for-profit company, and entrance is free to everyone). This was the reason Jeremy had gone to Cartagena in the first place.
The street images shown by Jeremy were full of wonderful domes and Cartagena architecture which is very Spanish in feel and has a strong yellow theme.There were many opportunities for mini projects such as door handles and windows which Jeremy took advantage of, including street markets full of bags, fruit and hats. In the second half Jeremy showed us some of his competition winners of fruit sellers and dancers - some of us are familiar with this aspect of Jeremy's work and always enjoy seeing the images.
As with many cities there is an old city and a contemporary city - the gorgeous old, walled city was refurbed in last 20 years which is very recent and as Jeremy's images prove, they are a photographer’s paradise. The clock tower dates back to the 1500’s but has seen many renovations. One stunning image at the end made my jaw drop: when Jeremy had been showing the old city and then immediately an image of the new city was displayed with its numerous tall, thin skyscrapers underlining the transition of time and cultures.
An area outside the old city but still quite old with decaying streets is Getsemini and once again one of Jeremy’s favourites is urban art and he showed some very impressive images of contemporary art on decayed walls. Very striking indeed.
Jeremy Richards once again gave us an excellent presentation last week on Cartagena de Indias in Columbia. Unlike his usual road trippy presentations this one was area specific and succeeded in portraying a whole atmosphere of this place. The presentation was constructed by using images taken on different times of day on different days in different years.
In the 16century Cartagena was the main staging post for gold and silver which lead to many battles for ownership (unsurprisingly these still go on today). There is currently a ship which has been identified at the bottom of the sea which purportedly contains 11 million gold coins (in one ship…. and there were convoys of ships for 100’s of years - imagine!) Liz Bugg wanted to know where all the ships have been sunk! Spain is organising the salvage of the ship and claims ownership: Columbia however claims ownership because the ship is in Columbia: but Peru and Bolivia claim ownership because the ship originates from there and so it goes on!
There are many harbours in Cartagena and the area has a rich maritime history: even Sir Francis Drake got in on the act and at one time lived there - Jeremy showed us an image of his house, Casa Drake from which Drake received ransoms from the local people. Not such a popular figure then, there are current ghost stories using Drake as the main character still told to children. During this time Cartagena was fortified and the old fort is the biggest in South America (Castillo San Felipe) and during the second half of his presentation Jeremy showed us many images of this wonderful building.
Strangely and randomly Cartagena hosts an annual Hay festival (this festival began in Hay on Wye in the late 1980’s and has now expanded internationally with sister festivals taking place in Aarhus, Arequipa, Nairobi, Dhaka, Zacatecas, the Maldives, Kerala at Thiruvananthapuram, Beirut, Belfast, Cartagena, the Alhambra Palace, Parc Prison in Bridgend and Segovia. In 2009 Hay Festival also took on the ailing Brecon Jazz Festival. It is run by a not-for-profit company, and entrance is free to everyone). This was the reason Jeremy had gone to Cartagena in the first place.
The street images shown by Jeremy were full of wonderful domes and Cartagena architecture which is very Spanish in feel and has a strong yellow theme.There were many opportunities for mini projects such as door handles and windows which Jeremy took advantage of, including street markets full of bags, fruit and hats. In the second half Jeremy showed us some of his competition winners of fruit sellers and dancers - some of us are familiar with this aspect of Jeremy's work and always enjoy seeing the images.
As with many cities there is an old city and a contemporary city - the gorgeous old, walled city was refurbed in last 20 years which is very recent and as Jeremy's images prove, they are a photographer’s paradise. The clock tower dates back to the 1500’s but has seen many renovations. One stunning image at the end made my jaw drop: when Jeremy had been showing the old city and then immediately an image of the new city was displayed with its numerous tall, thin skyscrapers underlining the transition of time and cultures.
An area outside the old city but still quite old with decaying streets is Getsemini and once again one of Jeremy’s favourites is urban art and he showed some very impressive images of contemporary art on decayed walls. Very striking indeed.