On Saturday, September 7, at 5:00 p.m. the ninth edition of the international photography festival Noorderlicht opened in the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden. Spread over 23 museums, galleries and other locations especially in use for this event, the work of a total of 47 foreign and 134 Dutch photographers is shown during this, the second Friesian edition of The Netherlands' only annual photography festival. With these totals, Noorderlicht is again in 2002 the largest photography festival in The Netherlands.

As two years ago, in Leeuwarden Noorderlicht once again focuses on non-Western photography. After then having turned the spotlight on African photography in the successful exhibition 'Africa Inside', the event in 2002 is devoted to Latin American photography.

Under the title 'Mundos Creados', 40 local, 5 European and 10 Dutch photographers sketch a multifaceted and colourful portrait of Latin America and Latin American photography. Not only has the work shown by the participating photographers never before been seen in The Netherlands, but it is also the first time that a group exhibition in The Netherlands has been devoted to photography from that region.

'Mundos Creados' is comprised of four exhibitions that are accommodated in four locations close to one another: the Fries Museum, Museum Princessehof and Galerij Romein, and the Manege, a former military riding academy right on the doorstep of the festival, and fitted up as an exhibition hall for the occasion.

The presentation in the Fries Museum will be central for 'Mundos Creados', with the work of 22 photographers from the Wider Caribbean region - Central America and northern South America, from Columbia to Guatemala, and the islands in the Caribbean Sea.

This thematic exhibition devotes attention to the imaginatively employed staged photography that is strikingly plentiful in this region, and explores the cultural, political and religious roots of this characteristic style. The three other presentations supplement the image sketched in the Fries Museum, filling in details. In the extensive presentations in the Manege (23 photographers) and the Museum Het Princessehof the stress lies more on documentary photography, as Western (including Dutch) photographers join photographers from the region to give us a picture of Central and South America. Work by women photographers from Mexico is being shown in Galerij Romein.

Alongside 'Mundos Creados', during the festival still another exhibition organised by Noorderlicht is taking place: in a special space in the Manege the group exhibition 'Passion in the Polder' is seen, with work from members of the Dutch photographers's association GKf.

Various Frisian arts institutions are participating in the satellite programme with their own contributions to the festival.

Noorderlicht 2002 is supported by: Ministerie van OCenW, Provincie Friesland, Gemeente Leeuwarden, Gemeente Groningen, Provincie Friesland, HIVOS, Stichting Doen, NCDO, Fries Museum, Princessehof Leeuwarden, Kleurgamma, Drukkerij Tienkamp & Verheij, Art Revisited, LS Ontwerpers, Mexican Embassy.