Now & Then

Now & Then was an exhibition of photographs by Courtney Platt in association with National Gallery of the Cayman Islands (NGCI) curator Natalie Urquhart, the Steinmetz Archive, and the Cayman Islands National Archive (CINA).

In the fast-moving world of modern Cayman, it is difficult to imagine a time when life moved at a slower pace. Yet such a life existed only a few short decades ago. “The Islands That Time Forgot”, as the American photojournalist David Douglas Duncan called our three tiny Islands, did not have private telephones until 1965, or TVs until the 1970s. Today, these Islands are home to 65,000 people and have one of the most advanced banking economies in the world.

The images in Now & Then illustrated the gigantic leap that we had taken as a society. Working with archival photographs from CINA and the Cayman Free Press Steinmetz Collection, photographer Courtney Platt replicated and digitally merged images of the past with images of the present and together formed a fascinating tapestry of an evolving society and industry.

When seen side by side, these scenes of past and current landmarks, buildings, events, and generations of people created together a surreal, and at times, haunting mixture of imagery, which evoked a way of life that is rapidly becoming confined to memory. The exhibition was also a reminder of the importance to preserve our unique heritage before it is lost forever.

Now & Then was developed by NGCI in 2012 and was first exhibited at the National Gallery’s central facility in Grand Cayman. It has since returned to NGCI on multiple occasions and travelled to both sister Islands Little Cayman and Cayman Brac as part of an ongoing collaboration between the Little Cayman Museum, the Cayman Brac Reef Resort, and the National Gallery.