Walking in Lapeyrouse

We are a long-lived family of ‘long-memoried’ men and women. In my lifetime we have lost few elders on my mother’s side and had a tragic death of one who did not live long enough to become an elder. The ones I knew were my mother’s father, Albert, a former seaman who was cremated and his ashes scattered in the ocean; my grandmother’s brother, Irwin, who was buried in the UK; and his son Ian, also laid to rest in the UK. My grandparents on my father’s side were cremated, with minimal fanfare, at the St James Crematorium. As a result, I have never really visited cemeteries or attended burials. I was never really exposed to death or the places that the dead go to rest.  In writing this series about my family, I however felt compelled to visit the plot at Lapeyrouse cemetery in Port of Spain.

Garma – Stories My Mother Told Me

My mother speaks of my Great-great-grandmother as if she knew her, even though she died many years before my mother’s birth. “Garma was something else, yes,” she said to me with a smile. Garma was what they all called her, a child’s mispronunciation of the word Grandma before they were old enough to properly frame the word. For the rest of her life this is what she was called.  She is called Garma still in the tales told about her, in my prayers to the image I have of her in my head and the spirit that I feel she holds.

The Power of Memory – Stories My Mothers Told Me

I have been thinking about stories and memories as I move into 2012. So many New Year’s resolutions are about looking forward into the future and breaking the patterns and habits of the past. We seem to have an irrational fear of the past. Our history as Caribbean people has told us all that lies in our past is barbarism – African slaves, European slave-owners, Indian indentured labourers, Chinese bondsmen, Syrian traders and near forgotten Amerindians. The past is death; the past is shame.

Is there a Caribbean Aesthetic? – Video Interview

Check out my video feature on Designer Island as part of a wider discussion on the Caribbean aesthetic that inspired my essay “Where is Here”.

Where is Here?

I have been reading with interest artist Tanya Williams’ ongoing discourse at on Caribbean aesthetic at her blog designerisland.blogspot.com. She asks the question: Is there such a thing as a Caribbean aesthetic? If so how can we define it? Photographer Alex Smailes, designers Richard Rawlins and Katinka Bukh all weighed in and it seems the consensus so far is: It depends on where you are – where in time, in space and what direction you look at it from.  Tanya’s question is all about identity, really. Who are we, how do we see ourselves and as a result what visual culture do we produce?

The Beauty of Print

I have recently been forced to re-home many of my books, something I said I would never do. I suppose I never anticipated living with a man (who has his fair share of magazines, equipment and other space stealers) in one room and how much space would become a luxury. Anyone who has been a life-long reader has come to this point: the books occupy more space than you do and its less a matter of whether or not to give some away than deciding which books to donate to libraries or give to friends.

Who Are Trinidad’s New Influencers?

Influence - Photographed by Kibwe Brathwaite

I have been thinking about influencers. It’s a term that we’ve heard a lot recently in marketing, PR and Branding. There was a movie released earlier this year called The Influencers featuring creative trendsetters in the US. Branding mogul Steve Stoute has also published a book called The Tanning of America that looks at how Hip Hop culture and its most recognizable icons are influencing brands, tastes and culture in America.

Anya Ayoung Chee: From the Caribbean to the World

Skyping to the Trinidad Project Runway Finale Viewing Party from the NYC Project Runway Finale Viewing Party

The Caribbean Twitter nation sat glued to television sets on Thursday 27th October 2011, as local fashion designer Anya Ayoung Chee became the winner of American fashion design show – Project Runway.

We watched for weeks as she struggled, rallied, was derided by some competitors, viewed with suspicion by bloggers on the Internet and praised by others. We watched as she just dazzled those judges and the fashion world at New York Fashion Week.

Murakami and Jazz

Haruki Murakami is now on my list of authors whose work I need to read.

While I fall in love with well-turned phrases, beautiful metaphors and engaging stories, I also fall in love with authors. I can’t separate the creator from the creation. I always want to know their own personal stories: How did they start writing? Where does their inspiration come from? What books do they like to read?

Finding Inspiration at Waterloo’s Temple on the Sea

I saw a picture years ago that always remained in my head. It featured a bleak, urban landscape complete with grey, brick walls, trash-littered streets and zombie-like pedestrians. Streaked through the landscape however was a brightly coloured rainbow arched from the sky, making a beeline for the head of one of the pedestrians – a middle aged man in a suit carrying a briefcase. The force of the rainbow that hit him in the head made him stumble forward, his face startled, his briefcase forgotten.