Four young talented artists had the time of their lives when they staged their first art exhibition–HUEman Form–at the On Location gallery, on De Verteuil Street, Woodbrook. The young women are Caroline Mair, Tara Bhajan, Daniela Fifi and Lorraine Abraham. Speaking to the Guardian last Tuesday, Mair explained her earliest preoccupation with the human form goes back to her childhood when her grandmother "would verbally dissect me, attributing my features and parts of my identity to family members both present and long gone. "This is your grandfather's forehead. You have my eyes. My chin. Your great grandmother's nose. I began to look at my own body as a patchwork, an amalgamation of other forms and structures," she said. "It was only natural that I started off drawing parts of bodies–half a face, my hand holding the pencil, a foot in repose. All disconnected."
Mair, whose medium centres mostly around pen and ink, with touch of gold leaf and acrylic paint, is a lawyer and a professional jazz singer.
Bhajan, who holds a BA Special in Visual Arts from the University of the West Indies (UWI), with a minor in Theatre Arts, was part of the first group of graduates from the Centre for Festival and Creative Arts visual arts programme and graduated with Upper Second Class Honours.
She was lucky enough to be taught by some major names in the local art scene while at UWI. Bhajan said: "To me, creativity is not a choice. It is an innate and constant desire to produce something that represents my vision. No matter what facet of art it may be–painting, drawing or designing–I have a natural tendency to recreate the many aspects of my world. Whether cultural influences, forms, emotions or colours–I need to be creating."
She added: "The recent pieces are focused around the theme of the human form–the human form not merely representing the body but rather every aspect of human life and how our existence impacts on the world we live in." Fifi holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute, New York and an Master of Fine Arts from The University of Manchester, UK. She has worked with galleries and museums throughout England and currently works with National Museum and Art Gallery of T&T. Abraham graduated with top honours from the PRATT Institute in New York with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Advertising Art Direction from PRATT. Her most notable awards include The Pratt Circle Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement, the Hershel Levit Merit Scholarship and the International Merit Scholarship.