The buildings and sceneries you pass on your daily commute might not stand out to you, but you have a chance to see them in a different light through the eyes of artist Yaoling Lee.
Lee has captured 21 different vignettes from Belize City and compiled them in a book called Beautiful Belize City. Each page shows a painted scene, coupled with a short description of the area, and even a photograph of Lee's setup. Today, we visited a couple of the areas with Lee herself. Courtney Menzies has this story.
Beautiful Belize City is an 80-page hardcover book with 21 watercolor sketches mapped across this coastal city. The sketches reinvent scenes that the average resident night pass without a second thought.
The artist, Yaoling Lee, explained that it's her curiosity about each scene that prompts her to sketch. She then combined that sketch with a little history of each setting.
Yaoling Lee, Artist
"I think this is a work of accumulation of twenty one watercolor urban sketches of Belize City and I have been sketching around in Belize because I live here in Belize City so I did a lot of sketches of Belize City and this book is a collection, this book has a collection of twenty one sketches."
"Where I'm sketching, I'm curious about each scenery I sketch, for example, I'm curious about, right now, we're on Albert Street, I'm curious about Albert Street so then I recruited 21 + 1 writers, Belizean writers to contribute a short column about each location I sketch. And I mainly did this because I wanted to know about Belize City and I think it's a real benefit to the readers that get to know also what I knew also because I learn so much from those writers."
And to the residents, it may seem strange to capture the city in this light. With the potholes, the dilapidated buildings, the poverty-stricken, gang ridden communities, is it really worth preserving in art?
Lee says she sees this city differently:
Yaoling Lee, Artist
"Now we are standing by the roadside and I'm sure the camera is capturing the traffic and we have to speak really loud, almost like a yell, so this is the energy of the city."
"In my head I thought, I should do a book about Belize City because I have so many urban sketches about Belize City. On top of that, every time when I talk about Belize City, it doesn't matter if they're locals or foreigners, nobody says good words about Belize City, you agree with me, right? So then I say well I see something different, and I have to share what I see. And that actually is the main idea, I hope people get to see what I see."
"Belize City is complicated and we can say there are a lot of crimes, gangster activities, but there's another side, what I see too, and I want to share that with people."
And like Lee, the reader will get a glimpse into the history of each location, since every sketch was paired with a Belizean writer. The harbor itself has four angles in Lee's book, each with a description of the place and the people.
Yaoling Lee, Artist
"Where we are right now exactly is the place I did this sketch, Belize harbor, I really love this one so you can see behind me, beautiful, and I have four of this. And now I want to introduce my writers. The one who wrote about this location is Mr Marco Lopez."
"This one I did it from the other side of the side and this one is called boat and the Supreme Court of Belize, I used this as my book cover, one of my favorite. And the person who was assigned for this imagine is Felene Cayetano."
"And then now it's a Swing Bridge, so blue, because I see so much blue, and the one assigned to this is Dr Ludwig Palacio.
"This one is La Arca, and this one is Ubaldimir Guerra and he wrote about fishermen, which I asked him to do a little research because I'm so curious about those boats."
And apart from the harbor, Lee managed to capture the downtown street fair, the colonial houses in the Fort George area, and the entrance of Belize City.
Most times, Lee says she drives around looking for something to catch her eye, then she will sit in her car like this with her sketch pad, pencils, and paintbrushes.
And while driving, she also looks for the scenes people may not consider as attractive.
Yaoling Lee, Artist
"I don't only show the, I would say, I want to have a collection of different views including those houses from the canal, those little underprivileged, but they try to build their lives based on what they have and to my eyes, those are beautiful as well."
"This is the view when you're coming down to Belize City from Ladyville so this is the opening of this book, very very important, I want people to stop just for a few second and look around our surroundings, it's beautiful. You know sometimes we have to stop a little, not too long, I know everyone's busy, we have things to do everyday. Just stop for a while and feel the surroundings and just breathe and I think that will give you a whole different perspective and it might change a little bit how you see Belize City."
Lee's book is available for preorder from her website.
The book costs $110, but bulk orders receive a discount.
And beginning this Saturday, Lee will have urban sketching workshops throughout the country. The first will be at the Museum here in Belize City.
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