Drawing upon the Cayman Compass’ extensive archive of journalistic photographs, the National Gallery’s TimeBack exhibition provides a window into Cayman’s past, captured through candid portraits, civic functions and historic milestones, as well as more intimate depictions of family gatherings and daily life.
The exhibit, presented in partnership with the National Gallery, Compass Media and Dart with support from the Kenneth B. Dart Foundation, was originally set to close in July but its run was eventually extended to 12 Sept.
TimeBack will be followed by the gallery’s biennial exhibition that will open the middle of September.
“The National Gallery is incredibly pleased to be able to extend TimeBack,” National Gallery Director Natalie Urquhart said. “Since opening, the exhibition has been enjoyed by numerous visitors and has struck a notable chord with our community due to its accessible subject matter and the wealth of archival images that allow viewers to take a nostalgic stroll down memory lane.”
She added, “While the show has proved especially popular with seniors, it has received equally glowing responses from younger members of our community, as evidenced by the response from students, many of whom have had the opportunity to engage with TimeBack through the gallery’s busy programme of school tours.
“In addition to extending the run of the exhibition at our central space, a smaller presentation of the exhibition is currently on view at the Little Cayman Museum, with plans under way to travel the project to both Cayman Brac and additional satellite venues in Grand Cayman.”
A look back in time
Transporting viewers to a simpler time in Cayman’s history before the advent of cellphones and social media, the featured images mostly date from the 1970s to the early 1990s and include candid portraits of prominent Caymanians and ordinary citizens, depictions of civic functions and historic milestones, and more intimate representations of family gatherings and everyday life.
The photographs are a small sample drawn from the wider collection of more than 300,000 negatives, which have been carefully digitised by the TimeBack team of dedicated amateur historians, journalists, artists and civic-minded Caymanians. The wider digital repository invites ongoing participation from the community to share reflections around individual images, to document lost stories and expand our historical knowledge.
Since opening on 14 March, the TimeBack exhibition has afforded visitors the opportunity to experience selections from this digital archive, with many more images accessible via the project’s website and associated social media channels.
Lori Peterson, education assistant at the National Gallery, said the exhibition has been getting positive feedback.
“We’ve had a lot of visitors come in specifically asking to see the TimeBack exhibition,” she said, adding that older people were interested in the display, sharing “stories of past times and [remembering] what it was like for them as a child and how things have stayed and how things have changed as well.”
As part of the ongoing effort to encourage participation from the community, members of the public are invited to share their own memories and reflections, assisting the TimeBack team in identifying the images and providing captions for the entire archive.
Additionally, the exhibition space includes an interactive archive room, featuring documentary videos, computer stations for browsing TimeBack’s online viewing galleries, as well as a community wall adorned with Post-it notes where visitors can add their comments and stories.
Speaking to the Gallery’s wider institutional mission, Collections Curator William Helfrecht said that TimeBack “reflects a partnership between two organisations that share an underlying commitment to preserving Caymanian cultural heritage for future generations, which this exhibition perfectly encapsulates”.
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