If you’re coming to the U.S. Virgin Islands, make sure to stop by a fantastic new photography exhibit showcasing the warm and wonderful people who make these islands their home.

The Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts in Fredericksted on St. Croix is now showing portaits of the Virgin Islands in the work of renowned photographer Michael Nissman, in an exhibit of his photographs of “Who is a Virgin Islander?”  There are 40 beautiful black and white portraits of local residents; each one with a description of what this resident feels makes someone a real Islander.

It’s a fascinating question, with many rich and engaging answers.  There are just over 100,000 people living in the U.S. Virgin Islands, mostly on the three main islands of St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas. They come from just about everywhere.   U.S. Virgin Islanders are the descendants of African slaves, European settlers, Indian sugar plantation laborers, and immigrants from every corner of the world.  What they share is a love for these beautiful islands, and a sense that home means crystal clear waters, soft sand beaches, and lush tropical islands.  Their answers to photographer Michael Nissman’s question of what makes a Virgin Islander are as fascinating and unique as the Islanders themselves.

Nissman himself moved to St. Croix as a child from his native Oregon.   His photography is award winning, and his work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has been exhibited all over the Caribbean and the United States.   The exhibit in the U.S. Virgin Islands is called “All Ah We: A U.S. Virgin Islands Community Portrait Project” and was funded in part by the Virgin Islands’ Council on the Arts.  It will be running throughout the month of August, and admission is just a voluntary donation to the museum.