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“I’ve always wanted to be an artist. I know that sounds like something every artist says, but it’s the microscopic truth. I’ve never lacked inspiration. I envisioned scenes before me unfold on canvas, but I wasn’t good at putting it on a canvas. In fact, I downright sucked at painting and badly needed training,” expounded artist and author, Vidya Birkhoff.
She continued, “I recognised something special about the Trinidad and Tobago flag through the deeper lens of the artist more than it being red, black and white, but that the three colours of themselves signify more than simply the togetherness of a people in T&T, but draws people, worldwide, together.”
Native Trinbagonian businesswoman Birkhoff, who resides in Bacolet Point, Tobago, said over the years, she watched other artists blossom with the most breath-taking creations and was jealous.
Queen of the Blue.
COURTESY VIDYA BIRKHOFF
“I was jealous because the true creative side of me was ‘hushed’.”
Birkhoff also took note of the flag, or the prominent colour of it, red, portrayed or displayed in extensive diverse ways, especially in recognition of T&T’s diamond jubilee of Independence celebrated on August 31 this year.
Apart from typical emblems/memorabilia, creativity in representing the flag has showed up on national helicopters, at Caesar’s Army’s patriotic in.de.paint.dance fete, Caribbean revellers during international carnivals, Niagara Falls, CN Tower, fireworks locally and internationally, exquisite fashions, party themes, and Google, among other creativities.
Birkhoff also joined the world in seeing the flag flown outside the British House of Commons and atop Westminster Abbey, but she said there’s an art story about the T&T flag that stems from 2015 that hasn’t been told, which prompted her to tell it and complete a unique and profound piece of art.
Two Trinis residing in Hawaii, Amos and Terrance, blend-in with the T&T women’s football team in 2015, after giving them the only T&T flag at the match following their competition in the US.
COURTESY VIDYA BIRKHOFF
The Flag That Binds Us all started when two Trinidadian men living in Hawaii, known only as Amos and Terrance, met up to have a pot of pelau and some rum—a very Trini thing to do. One of the guys took out a Trini flag to bless it—waving it on his roof in Hawaii. Later, in said 2015, the two friends went to watch the Trinidad and Tobago women’s football team play the US, and of course, they took the flag and proudly waved it. It was the only Trini flag there and the guys were lucky enough to get a photo with the team. The team was overjoyed!
Four years later, in 2019, Amos and Terrance heard about fellow Trinidadian Shivani Goberdhan, who was entering the Caribbean Cup Roatan Free Diving Competition in Honduras. Goberdhan was also living and working in Hawaii. As a ‘good luck’ charm, the two Trinis, now self-made ambassadors, gave Goberdhan the flag. She dived, indeed, with one, displaying the flag to the amazement of a photographer, Alex St Jean, who captured it. Goberdhan went on to make diving history after she set four world records during the competition.
Two were for the Caribbean Cup – at a depth of 35 meters in 1 minute 25 seconds and 38 metres in 1 minute 27 seconds, while the other two were for World Championships—Free Immersion, reaching a depth of 35 metres in 1minute 36 seconds and 38 metres in 1minute 38 seconds.
T&T national helicopters fly from Trinidad to Tobago during T&T’s 60th Independence Day celebrations on August 31.
COURTESY VIDYA BIRKHOFF
Birkhoff said she was residing in Anguilla at the time when she first saw the image of Goberdhan underwater with the flag.
“I simply gasped and my first thought was that I needed to paint this, but I thought that I didn’t have the skill, but earlier this year, 2022, I was finally able to paint the image titled, Queen of Blue, after connecting with the photographer, St Jean (@alexstjeanphoto) and also with Shivani, for permission.”
Birkhoff expressed appreciation for the history of the flag and how it made its way around the world.
“I feel like the flag has brought us all together. I’m truly honoured to have this artwork hanging in the gallery of the Trinidad and Tobago Consulate in Miami. T&T has much to be proud of upon having gained Independence – the flag and its colours.”