HandmadeByBze Exhibit Showcases Local Artists at Museum of Belizean Art

Over 20 local artists are showcasing their talents at the HandmadeByBze exhibit, now open at the Museum of Belizean Art. The exhibit features a diverse collection of locally made items, including paintings, handwoven baskets, purses, and more, all aimed at preserving the Belizean spirit and celebrating the creativity of its people. At the inaugural ceremony, Minister of Culture Francis Fonseca highlighted the importance of documenting and promoting Belizean artisans to make their products more marketable. 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Culture: “As I pointed out, it’s a project that really has three objectives. One, we want to document who the artisans are in Belize. So we want an accurate database of artisans in Belize. We want to work with them on marketability. How can we, you know, all this creativity, how can we help them to promote that, to market that? And then of course, as I pointed out, at the end of the day, we really want to make sure that our creative people can make a living from their creativity. And so the export market, how can we work with them to provide opportunities for their products to gain access to export markets? So culture is my business, is a key initiative that we have focused on here at Niche over the past few years because we understand that so many of our artists, they’re creative people but they need support in terms of marketing their products, in terms of establishing their businesses, creating a business model, and ultimately making a profit so that they can provide for their families and support their communities. So all in all, it’s a fantastic initiative and I pay full tribute to, you know, Gilvano Swasey, Yasser Musa, the entire team at IKA, Kim Vasquez, the artisans who are from every district, from so many different communities across the country coming together to make this a reality.”

Among the featured artists is Emilio Perera, a distinguished Belizean designer and artisan celebrated for his handcrafted leather accessories. Perera noted that such efforts not only honor Belize’s heritage but also open doors for local artisans to thrive on an international stage.

Emilio Perrera, Artist: “It’s an honor to be recognized for the work that we do and that all of the artisans have been over the years passionate about and being recognized today, to give a platform for all of us as well. But so I had to put it to the team here to choose for me and then after that I just elaborated the piece and put a little extra art to it. Well the one we did was an orange bag for more impact and then we did some Jippi Jappa details on it. We try to tell a story so with our pieces the more hands that go into the product the better. So in that piece we have five different artisans that worked on that bag. So we have the leather, we have the Jippi Jappa, we have the wood and the story to this bag is the wood so we wanted to display the hardwood of Belize. So in this collection we offer six different hardwoods for the client to come and choose which hardwood they want with the color of the bag and also that tells a story of the carpenter who has twenty five plus years of working with wood and is just telling his story and continuing his work as well.” 

The exhibit is now open to the public.