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Basseterre, St. Kitts, September 15, 2022 (SKNIS): Professor and world-renowned photographer, a son of the soil, and featured speaker for the Prime Minister’s Independence Lecture Series, Valdon Tau Battice, encouraged Kittitians and Nevisians to tap into their visual and creative faculties as they envision where they would like to see St. Kitts and Nevis.

“As you re-envision what you can be and what this country can be, I ask you to tap into the art of visualizing and when I say visualizing I don’t just mean seeing with your two eyes, but more importantly seeing with your mind’s eyes,” said Mr. Battice, as he spoke to a packed crowd on Wednesday, September 14, at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort Ballroom. “You need to be creative with this visualization. Creative visualization just like the laws of gravity and nature work for all, but you must continually visualize and create and re-create what you see in your physical world through your thoughts.”

Mr. Battice, who is also a Professor at Guttman College of the City University of New York, appealed to the younger generation to pen and post their vision.

“Please, particularly young people or the younger amongst us, write down your vision. I advise with a pen and paper but whether with pen and paper or electronically, post it somewhere where it can beckon you constantly. If you move to your car your vision will speak and it will not lie,” he said.

In questioning what they see for themselves, as well as for St. Kitts and Nevis, Mr. Battice called on every citizen to be imaginative.

“I call on you to be imaginative. Imagining isn’t just stuff of babies or of carefree children, it is in fact the hallmark of the creative mind – the mature mind. The secret of visualization is in imagining the outcome. Begin with the outcome and constantly refocus on that outcome,” he said. “I say this to you as individuals but I also say this to our leaders. Leaders, I remind you to be imaginative in pursuing our common good. So, I say to you whatever good and great you have envisioned for yourself, for your country, whatever those visions are, get to focusing and refocusing on them.”

The Prime Minister’s annual Lecture Series formed part of St. Kitts and Nevis’ Independence celebrations and features prominent speakers from various spheres of influence from St. Kitts and Nevis. The Lecture Series focused on the theme for this year’s Independence which is “Refocus, Re-create, Redesign: Independence 39”.

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