PHOTOGRAPHER Roland Rose has produced an update of The Bahamas’ Coat Of Arms as the country celebrates the 40th Anniversary of Independence.

His montage was one of two produced as an icon for Mr Rose’s upcoming 52-image photography exhibition which he is putting together with the D’Aguilar Foundation to open in the week of July 10.

Most of the photographs in the upcoming exhibition are from the 1970s, or near that decade, as independence came about on July 10, 1973.

Two Coat of Arms montages were produced, and the square format was picked, as the icon for the exhibition using the four words of the Coat of Arms, ‘Forward, Upward, Onward, Together’, to divide the exhibition images into four groups.

One minute after midnight on July 10, 1973, a crowd of 50,000 witnessed the black, turquoise and gold flag of the Bahamas being raised instead of the Union flag as the country marked its independence from Britain.

Mr Rose is known as The Bahamas’ ‘Dean of Photography.’ He received a Cacique Award in 1996.

He came to the country in 1946, taking up photography as a hobby at the age of 12.

In 1951 he joined the Bahamas Development Board as a professional photographer. This later became the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.

After chronicling the country’s history for decades, Mr Rose started holding solo exhibitions of photography in 1996.

His first exhibition was at the Marlborough Gallery in Nassau and then consecutive exhibitions at The Central Bank of The Bahamas from 1996-2002.

His photos from years gone by feature under the heading ‘Flash Back’ in the Arts and Entertainment section of The Tribune every Wednesday.

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