Matthew Chin
matthew.chin@guardian.co.tt
At work, she uses her eyes to treat her patients’ ailments, but at home, she pays close attention to the details of the stories she paints. Debra Bartholomew is a doctor, singer, teacher, and artist who goes beyond the scope of her profession to help others traverse the mental obstacles of a world saturated with cliques and status quo.
The 52-year-old doctor within ophthalmology who hails from Petit Valley has been in the profession for years, helping others, both young and old, to understand eye health and the differences that make them special. She works at the Caribbean Eye Institute and the Caribbean Vitreous & Retina Surgery Ltd.
Although a master of spotting and treating vision-related issues, Dr Bartholomew has struggled with a devil that the world of ophthalmology could not defeat. With the passing of her grandfather when she was a young girl, anxiety intruded on her life, affecting her well-being. She uses art as a therapeutic outlet for dealing with the grief caused by loss, most recently from the death of her sister, and the anxiety that comes from it. She cited her grandmother as the source of what would later become her therapy for the volatility of life–macramé, a style of knot tying going back to the Assyrian and Babylonian civilisations.
Collecting international experience as far as Asia and North Africa, working in the field, she has found that discrimination towards the autistic “is the same” as it would be in any place of the world, including T&T. Her eldest son, Rowan McEwen, 20, diagnosed with autism, has experienced the lashes of discrimination throughout his life, being denied access to education at both Libyan and Indian schools. However, it was back home in T&T that her son would be accepted by one of the country’s most prestigious secondary schools: Queen’s Royal College (QRC).
“I was told my son would not last a day in secondary school. We’ve lived in several countries: India, Libya, then the UK. The British School of Tripoli and the American School of Bombay did not accept my child. When I came to QRC, Mr Simon summed it up in the best way possible, ‘We don’t have a 20 per cent, so I have no guarantees in terms of where your son may end up, but I can guarantee you this—if QRC is the school he passes for it is here that he belongs,’” she said.
Raising an autistic child has changed Dr Bartholomew’s life, teaching her patience, and compassion, and igniting a drive within her to see everyone through the lens of the dignity intrinsic to their humanity. She wants Trinbagonians to appreciate their own beauty through self-love.
Currently, she is exhibiting one of her paintings at the Holy Trinity Cathedral for its 200th anniversary in which funds are being raised for its structural restoration.
Q&A
Q: Why did you become a doctor within ophthalmology?
The reason for doing medicine was to help people.
Q: The first time we met, you were wearing a necklace made of rope. It caught my eye immediately. How did you get introduced to this craft?
When I was ten years old I lost my grandfather. I didn’t quite know why it happened. It started a Tobago love with anxiety—a constant companion but a very much unwanted one. I didn’t realise at the time that what it was was a form of PTSD. And that is something that we try to sweep under the carpet, especially in the Caribbean.
When my younger son, Adrian, was about to graduate this year, I went looking for a necklace, a statement piece. It occurred to me right there and then, I thought to myself, ‘What about using a macramé necklace?’ My grandmother taught me how to do knot-making; it was an amazing form of therapy.
Q: Are you planning to sell these necklaces?
Yes! One person said, ‘It’s so beautiful,’ and I was like, ‘What!’ So I made another one and another one and another one. People have actually bought a few. (For World Sight Day) I wanted to wear something blue. And so I decided to make a blue necklace the morning before I came ... before you saw me. It’s therapy but also art and fashion which is my thing.
Q: It’s not only knotting that you do, you’re also a singer and painter. What work have you exhibited this year?
Earlier this year I did some pieces for the Catholic News, using art to tell the story of the Stations of the Cross but to bring it into people’s consciousness because we tend to think of the Stations of the Cross as something that happened 2,000 years ago. I retold the Stations of the Cross using Trinidad and Tobago’s backdrop of societal issues. One of my favourite pieces is of Jesus falling for the first time at Independence Square; he falls out of a wheelchair due to the lack of access to the disabled …
Q: When we see discrimination, do you believe it stems from a lack of education?
Yes, it does. One of the things that my older son (Rowan) and I decided to do was to develop some comic strips to educate others. At present, QRC has a young man who’s legally blind and his mother chose QRC for her son (Aiden) because of my son. When (QRC) had a cross-country race, I was there as the medical support. Two boys came and said they think something was wrong with him, he’s having a meltdown. I came to him and asked if he was okay. I asked what’s happening and Aiden said, ‘Oh, I just wanted to know if it was time for me to go back up to my class?’ What struck me at that moment was how little we knew about each individual who has a disability.
Rapid-fire questions
Q: Favourite drink?
A: Sorrel.
Q: Favourite book?
A: Cote Ci Cote La.
Q: One thing you’d change about the world?
A: There needs to be more education on humanity.
Q: A country you’d want to visit?
A: France or Italy.
Q: Favourite Indian food?
A: Curry, hands down.
Q: One surprising fact about Dr Bartholomew?
A: She has a very dirty mind.
