The walls on both sides of the street on Fisher Avenue, St Ann’s have once again been transformed into a storyteller's dream with the street exhibit mounted by artist Donald "Jackie" Hinkson.
In 2021, with the official cancellation of Carnival celebrations, Hinkson exhibited his Carnival-inspired murals, ranging 55 to over 100 inches, attracting a diverse audience.
This year he has decided to exhibit again, and with support from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Arts has added 120 feet to the Band of the Year mural he started working on two years ago. The 2022 edition, Game of Words, opened on February 20 and runs until March 4.
The artwork gives a pictorial commentary on issues that have been raised and events that have been taking place throughout TT.
"The gayelle in the Parliament, the vaccines, the anti-vaxxers, floods, sou sou, Petrotrin and so many other things were added to the mural, reading like a chronological sequence of what was happening," Hinkson told Sunday Newsday.
[caption id="attachment_941938" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Artist Jackie Hinkson explains the meaning of the Camboulay to Beyonce mural on display where he lives at Fisher Avenue, St Ann's. - Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
He said the main objective behind the exhibit, then and now, is also the basic inspiration behind any piece of art – to communicate with the public. And although a lot of it is Carnival-inspired, he said it is not a depiction of Carnival, but a metaphor of how he views society using Carnival.
"So whether or not we have Carnival is not a deterrent."
For him, a street exhibit was the most logical choice given the size of his works.
"They (the artworks) require a certain monumentality of scale...The evolution of man, society, an era, time, all requires a monumental approach. I couldn't put it in an art gallery, so I had to find somewhere where they can sit comfortably. Besides, how many people go into an art gallery or a museum? I like the idea of being able to communicate with as wide a public as possible."
And the fact that it is mounted on the street on which he lives is a bonus because it is convenient and he can easily monitor it.
"I have the best neighbours," he said with a laugh, as his neighbours allowed him to mount the pieces on the walls of their homes.
Hinkson's artistic experience involves the use of various media and subjects, and his production of mural-size work began in the 1980s. He has produced four books on his life and art, and in 2010 his over 100 sketch pads have been inscribed by Unesco into TT’s Memory of the World Register. But even with his over 60 years of artistic experience, he said identifying the issues he wants to showcase remains the easy part. Figuring out how to create a work of art based on the subject matter is challenging, even for the most experienced of artists.
"On the surface, looking at the mural, you will see references to the sou sou and what happens in the Parliament, for example. But to me, it's far more important how I use the format and elemen
