19/08/2026
The familiar trunks arch over the main roads with their canopies bursting scarlet and orange-red. It’s as if nature got carried away with the confetti.
The Royal Poinciana, Delonix regia, is also known across the Caribbean and other parts of the tropics as the Flamboyant Tree.
For all its drama, the poinciana is something we can grow strangely blind to. It’s what happens when you live somewhere beautiful: eventually, beauty becomes wallpaper. Project Flamboyant! A Cayman Style photography challenge, set out to interrupt that familiarity, inviting the public to capture the Royal Poinciana through their own lens.
It is native to Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa. From there, it became one of the great botanical travellers of the tropical world, planted far beyond its original range because humans took one look at it in bloom and, quite reasonably, decided they wanted one too. Today it grows across the Caribbean, Central America, parts of Asia, Africa, Australia and the warmer reaches of the United States.
Somewhere along that journey, the tree became thoroughly Caribbean.
Cayman’s affection for the tree is nothing new. The National Gallery holds Edrid Banks Jr.’s Flower Tree (1971) and Carol Owen’s Poincianas at Government House (1995), two artists decades apart, each drawn to the same familiar bloom.
A place isn’t made only from what originated there. It’s shaped by what takes root and what people come to recognise as their own. That makes the Poinciana a fitting subject for a Cayman Style project: planted, painted, photographed, and simply appreciated, becoming part of the visual language of the Cayman Islands along the way.
For one submission, Poinciana Reverie by Daniel Langer, the process went much further. Inspired by photographer Pep Ventosa’s In the Round series, Langer walked around a tree taking roughly 40–50 photographs from different positions, then layered and blended them into a single impressionistic image.
Some entries were deeply personal. Amie Shyl photographed a Royal Poinciana during what she called one of the hardest seasons of her life. But the tree reminded her, “when its season comes, it does not remain broken,” she wrote. “It blooms.” Another entrant, Simmi-Snaps Digital, described the tree at Faith Hospital in Cayman Brac as a reminder that “life is both fragile and resilient.” For many others, it was simply about taking part: getting outdoors, and noticing the beauty of our islands on purpose, maybe for the first time in a while.
The submissions showed how differently people can interpret a single subject. Some approached it with a photographer’s eye; others simply noticed a poinciana on a familiar road and reached for their phone.
“People don’t all arrive with the same experience, resources, or creative background,” said Shemila Eden, Creative Developer. “But creative self-expression is a gift, and everyone deserves room to explore it. The goal is to build modern tools and spaces that empower the community to share their creativity, while making it fun.”
Two overall winners emerged from the challenge, one chosen by the community’s vote and one selected by the Cayman Style panel for creativity, composition, and storytelling. Prizes include a featured spotlight, a professionally framed print of their winning shot, their choice of a free two-hour session at ZEAL Creative Studio or cash prize and gifts donated by the Visual Arts Society.
"I thoroughly enjoy taking a single theme and seeing how many ways it can be interpreted. This photo challenge was one prompt, a two-week window, and an open invitation. Often the community just needs a nudge to do something they already love, and a space to share it in style."
Missed the submission deadline? Not to worry, you can still add your perspective to the collection here.
Alongside the open photography call, select works will be spotlighted in an upcoming Digital Exhibit featuring local creatives from various disciplines.
Soon come! The next part of Project Flamboyant.
For the digital exhibit, we invited a group of local creatives to take the Poinciana somewhere new. Working across different disciplines, each person had only two weeks to answer the same prompt, and to document how they got there.
Stay tuned.
Soon come! The next part of Project Flamboyant.
For the digital exhibit, we invited a group of local creatives to take the Poinciana somewhere new. Working across different disciplines, each person had only two weeks to answer the same prompt, and to document how they got there.
Stay tuned.
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