Dad made sure I was up on my old school calypsonians – Sparrow, Kitchener, Nello (Nelson), Melody, Preddy (Pretender), et al very often woke me up at maximum volume on a Saturday morning and accompanied me as I did my Saturday morning chores. I had to know the classics (like proper classical, play “Fur Elise” and “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano classics, for kids anyway!) but I also had to know the local classics. Then as I got older, Mum got me into music. We’d spend hours with Mummy making costumes out of old stockings (for long hair), ends of fabric wrapped every which way (for capes, skirts, wings, wraps, etc), old wired bras (excellent shoulder pads for kids), paper, feathers, beads, ribbon, braid, old lace, you name it! Sometimes, we’d all be in the dog-house (even mum!) because we ‘accidentally’ glued Granny’s ‘good’ lace to our costume and coloured it with paint or markers! If it was my Mummy’s turn, we made our own kiddie’s carnival band that danced up and down my grandparents’ very long driveway. I remember Carnival time when the adults went to play mas’, at least one of the mums or dads would have to stay back and help Granny look after all seven grandchildren. Alas, I knew Yufe’s, Queensway, Jimmy Aboud‘s and the rest of Fredrick St’s fabric stores like the back of my hand at a very early age! I remember Aunty Gail’s boutique and trailing behind Granny from one fabric store to the next and waiting amidst bolts upon bolts of fabric as she deliberated with my mum on just the right fabric, and just the right pattern/plan, for just the right outfit/curtain/upholstery/bedspread/etc. I remember my uncles planning stage costumes and sets for new soca bands, and stage entrances and exits for concerts that would test an engineer’s grasp of physics!
I remember hearing stories of Grandad playing different roles in the local Light Operatic Society with my mum and uncles hanging out back stage as kids. I grew up with a secondary school music teacher for a mum, a master carpenter and an ace musician for uncles, a fashion designer for an aunt, a light operatic singer for a grandfather, and a money-savvy fashionista for a granny.
To understand my fascination with these Old Mas’ characters, the more traditional characters of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, I need to explain a few things about my childhood. They became more than paintings, they became a way to honour my Mother, my family, my birth country, my Trinbago culture, and they’ve taken me on a beautiful nostalgic journey. So when I started casting around for ideas for Carnival paintings, it was the Old Mas’ that called to me most. Born out of necessity, mockery, pride, revolution, creative expression when otherwise you might be silenced, social commentary when news wasn’t as readily available as it is today. The history of my homeland’s Carnival is deep and varied and inspiring. I know when most people think about Carnival they think skimpy costumes, loud music, wild dancing… well Carnival in tropical countries anyway… but there is so much more to Trinidad & Tobago Carnival to explore. I had recently started playing with line drawing techniques in paint so I was keen to continue in that vein. In early 2016 I was preparing to take part in my first Carnival Expo at The Oval in London.
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