Nicole Canegata A Spiritual Traveler

There is something very special about a photographer who has the talent to make the viewer see the intricacy and intimacy in man-made objects like stone and iron, and in the same exhibition excite the viewer in seeing the beauty and passion of nature. Such is the case with Crucian-born Nicole Canegata whose photography exhibit  “Film Noir 2025” opened recently to packed crowds at Cane Roots Art Gallery in Christiansted.

Ms. Canegata is an artist who seems to have no boundaries and whose photographic interests lie in many sectors of life and form on the planet. 

“I love shapes, lines and texture in both nature and man-made structures,” she told Yellow Cedar Media. “You live on this beautiful island and it’s like medicine and therapy. It never gets old to me.”

What immediately pops out at you with every photograph in this heartfelt collection, is her love for her subject matter. Ms. Canegata has the ability to invoke a sense of wonder for the meaning behind the Black & White (B&W) photo of a sculpted rod iron railing sitting proudly against a stone wall in “Penthany Arrows,” and she has that same ability in presenting an ancient clock tower in “Keepers of Time in East.” They both call out to you and force you to think about their history and their fate, about how they got there and where they are going.    

In her B&W “Sacred Portal” which was shot from the inside of an old Sugar Mill here on St. Croix, we can begin to understand the genius of this masterful photographer and her unusual way of looking at the world, a world she has spent a lifetime travelling and exploring. Not only does her camera catch the rough-hewn detail of the rounded stone and the hunks of coral that form an archway to the old mill, along with a burst of light from above, but in a total view of the the photograph it smartly brings back, to the informed viewer, the angst and troubled times, of the people, during which this structure existed. In so doing, it forms a sort of living remembrance of those wretched days and the hopes and dreams that lay at the end of their dark tunnel.

It is of course a debatable point as to which photographs in this splendid exhibition capture the heart and mind in a more riveting manner: the man-made objects, or those Ms. Canegata captures of nature. 

There is no shot of the islands, no more alluring and spectacular an invitation to Caribbean life than “Ode to Palms II.” The palm trees swaying in the forefront, the sloping mountain laying serenely against the rolling sky, the waves gently sliding toward the viewer, calling out, beckoning for them to become a part of this tropical paradise.      

And then there is the magic of “Rainforest Nostalgia.” This wild-eyed view of Creque Dam and the ledge where so many Crucian youngsters risked it all by walking and running across its cement ledge  to get to the other side. Nature growing wild, stuffing itself into every inch of the framed shot, the day’s light peeking in from above, as the beauty of St. Croix’s natural environment comes into full focus.   

“That was my backyard when I was a boy,” St. Croix Administrator Sam Sanes told Yellow Cedar Media as he reminisced over the memory. “We actually used to run across that ledge. Crazy as we were as kids.”  

Film Noir 2025 runs thru April 4th at Cane Roots Art Gallery, 24 Company Street, Christiansted. 340-718-4929