Living Ritual 2016-present

“I come as one, but I stand as 10,000”

Maya Angelou

This is a continuing series that celebrates Trinidad’s carnival. This annual celebration once banned under colonial rule, has evolved into a festival that has inspired many other carnivals around the world including Caribana, Notting Hill, and Miami Carnival and many of our traditional characters as well as contemporary costumes have taken centre stage at these festivals.

The rhythm sections which include various drums also banned during colonial rule for fear of inciting the oppressed to rebel, have become central to the music and from this and in spite of the ban on drumming, the steelpan was born.

These pieces therefore are meant as a homage to those who found ways to keep the memory of our ancestors alive and continue to do so even as carnival evolves as all cultural expressive forms do.

Living Ritual is an ode to using joy as a powerful tool of resistance as carnival remains for the people by the people.

These pieces combine watercolour with collage papers torn from articles as well as decorative papers in designs reflective of the ethnic diversity and textile history of the region.

*As this is a continuing series many pieces that have been sold have been removed from the gallery.