images of hope

“Images of Hope: Immokalee – Looking Forward, Looking Back” a photographic essay by Brynn Bruijn, opens Dec. 1 at the Naples Museum of Art. COURTESY PHOTOS “Images of Hope: Immokalee – Looking Forward, Looking Back,” an illuminated portrait of Immokalee and the people who live and work there, opens Tuesday, Dec. 1, in the Kohan Gallery and Friends of Art Gallery at the Naples Museum of Art. The exhibit consists of more than 70 photographs taken over a period of several months by international award-winning freelance photographer and Naples resident Brynn Bruijn.

Ms. Bruijn has spent a lifetime capturing the human experience, erasing the differences between cultures with her lens and revealing the commonality of the human experience. She has photographed projects for Save the Children and UNICEF, and her work on Tibet became a UNESCO Cultural Project of the Decade that appeared in National Geographic Magazine and was a major exposition at the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, The Netherlands.

Brynn Bruijn “Images of Hope: Immokalee” was launched by the Community Foundation of Collier County with the support of many donors who believe Immokalee is a vital thread in the fabric that is Collier County.

A hardcover book by the same name as the exhibit contains 250 of Ms. Bruijn’s Immokalee photographs. Phil Beuth, a Naples resident and Guadalupe Center board member and the retired president of CapCities/ABC’s “Good Morning America,” volunteered to write the text to accompany Ms. Bruijn’s images in the 195-page book.

The “Images of Hope: Immokalee” book and individual prints will be available for purchase. Proceeds will benefit the Community Foundation’s Immokalee Initiative, which provides grants and customized training in areas of leadership, organizational development and community engagement for 30 nonprofit organizations serving Immokalee residents.

Above: Life in Immokalee: An institution known simply as “The Market’ has historically served individuals and local businesses as a fruit and vegetable source. Before dawn, expectant farmworkers hope to be selected to begin their 14-hour workday. Bundled against the cold, this worker hopes that today brings a good wage. Buckets hold approximately 32 pounds of tomatoes and are exchanged for redeemable tokens. Pickers are paid about 45 cents per bucket. Left: A chicken roosts on a wellworn chain link fence at an Immokalee home as storm clouds gather overhead. The book will be available at the Naples Museum of Art gift shop beginning Wednesday, Dec. 23, and can be ordered online at www.cfcollier.org. Cost is $59.95 plus tax. Signed, matted and mounted prints are $150 and $195.

PHOTOS FROM “IMAGES OF HOPE” The “Images of Hope: Immokalee – Looking Forward, Looking Back” exhibit is organized by the Community Foundation of Collier County and the Naples Museum of Art and is sponsored by Lowry Hill Private Asset Management. It will remain on display through Feb. 7, 2010. 

if you go

>> “Images of Hope: Immokalee – Looking Forward, Looking Back” >> Where: The Naples Museum of Art at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts, 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd. >> When: Invitation-only opening reception 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1; exhibit will remain through Feb. 7, 2010 >> Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; noon to 4 p.m. Sunday >> Cost: $8 for adults, $4 for students >> Special tours: Call Claudia Polzin at 290- 9433 or Diane Shaheen at 254-2620 >> More info: www.cfcollier.org or 649-5000