JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Monday, May 5, 2025

Childhood memories of Independence

by

1001 days ago
20220807

Trinidad-born vi­su­al artist In­dra Per­sad Milowe has pro­duced a se­ries of paint­ings in­spired by T&T’s In­de­pen­dence Day. These de­pic­tions of her child­hood mem­o­ries of Au­gust 31 are part of her “Fes­ti­vals and Folk­lore of Trinidad, West In­dies.”

Now based in Salem, Mass­a­chu­setts, in the Unit­ed States, Per­sad Milowe said art brings to life her ex­pe­ri­ences of grow­ing up in T&T in the 1950s and 1960s.

She said “Side by Side We Stand” was in­spired by an ex­pe­ri­ence when she was a ten-year-old stu­dent at Curepe Pres­by­ter­ian School learn­ing the words of the Na­tion­al An­them.

“My favourite part was when we lined up out­side our school. Our teacher pinned our flags on our blous­es and we had to hold hands with each oth­er. We then walked clock­wise around the school. Every child had to re­cite one line of the na­tion­al an­them. We then had to jump up in the air and when land­ing on our feet, shout loud­ly, “Side by side we stand!”

“Lat­er we stopped and sang to­geth­er while rais­ing our hands back and forth, “Here every creed and race find an equal place, and may God bless our Na­tion.” In this paint­ing, I have trans­posed the chil­dren of my youth to the Red House in Port-of-Spain. Each and every word of our Na­tion­al An­them has stuck in my head to this very day,” she said.

The artist sits in front of 6ft x 6ft mural, a Kaleidoscope of the Imagination, painted on the entrance wall of her studio and gallery.

The artist sits in front of 6ft x 6ft mural, a Kaleidoscope of the Imagination, painted on the entrance wall of her studio and gallery.

Per­sad Milowe said, “My Flag Guard­ed My Hop­scotch” is her de­pic­tion of an­oth­er In­de­pen­dence Day.

She re­called: “Our par­ents had a fenced-off gar­den where they grew vine veg­eta­bles. In the mid­dle, we drew a hop­scotch on con­crete that was our dai­ly ex­er­cise rou­tine. We tied our flag on­to that fence wire and left it there un­til we grew up. It had seen a lot of rain and thun­der but we nev­er took it down.”

Her oth­er fea­tured paint­ings are Kailash” an art box that was used as a back­drop for the tele­vi­sion cook­ing se­ries Man vs. Food. It is now on dis­play in front of the Old Town Hall in Der­by Square, Salem. The 6ft x 6ft mur­al “Kalei­do­scope of the Imag­i­na­tion” is paint­ed on the en­trance wall of her stu­dio and gallery.

The artist, who re­tired as an oph­thalmic and psy­chi­atric nurse in 2019, is now a full-time artist who prefers work­ing on can­vas with mul­ti-coloured and gold acrylic paints.

More of her art can be viewed on her web­site: www.in­drap­er­sad­milowe.com.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored