Budding artists highlighted at Tun Over Thursday

The second to last day of the 2014 Soca in B Square series titled Tun Over Thursday, brought a true onslaught of entertainment to Woodford Square, Port-of-Spain. 

Blink-bmobile took this opportunity amidst the Carnival festivity to award the three winners of its recent Art Competition.

The Art Competition which was launched by the blink-bmobile Foundation last October, targeted budding local visual artists between the ages of 16 and 21 and challenged them to use art to interpret the theme Imagine Trinidad and Tobago to qualify for top prizes.

The top pieces were selected from the pool of submitted entries by a panel of T&T’s artistic authorities and displayed on the blink-bmobile Facebook page, said a release from blink-bmobile.

The three winners, Jahmel John, Nandaa Maharajh and Rajesh Harinarine were present at B Square on Tun Over Thursday to collect their well-earned prizes as well as to enjoy the pulsating performances by soca entertainers Dil-E-Nadan, Kerwin Dubois, Farmer Nappy, Iwer George and the Baron.

Among the prizes awarded that day were Samsung Galaxy 3 Tablets, vouchers for art supplies and most notably the opportunity of a five-week Mentorship Programme with leading internationally-renowned artist Leroy Clarke.

Winner Jahmel John, a student of Costaatt, is currently majoring in graphic design and aspires to do graphics and tattoo art professionally. 

His piece, The future of T&T showed the children of the nation as seen by a child drawing the map of T&T inside of a heart. “I’m very thankful to blink-bmobile for this chance to showcase my talent and for this foundation for my future career goals,” John said.

Nandaa Maharajh also expressed gratitude for the opportunity presented to her by the network. The 16-year-old Lakshmi Girls’ student depicted the competition’s theme by including several national emblems and aspects which she admired. 

These included the national anthem which according to her, represents our journey as a people. She plans to have her own art exhibitions while simultaneously studying medicine in the near future.

Rajesh Harinarine who is presently pursuing a degree in Civil Engineering at UWI has aspirations of being an entrepreneur in his field so that he can have time to continue with his passion of art. 

His piece entitled “Mother Trinidad” depicted a female character built out of different local cultural facets such as the steelpan, Carnival costumes etc. He stated that the competition was a good way to promote local artists and that he was thankful to blink|bmobile for the opportunity.

The blink-bmobile Foundation understands the importance of supporting the fine arts sector as it is no longer considered a mere pastime and that there are presently several local and regional nationals who have made profitable careers as painters, sculptors, textile and ceramic artists, etc.

According to a representative from blink-bmobile, “It was the foundation’s pleasure to host this competition as it gave these budding artists a platform to showcase their work and to also propel their career progress. We are pleased to contribute to the progress of T&T’s young bourgeoning visual artists and the development of the local arts industry as a whole.”

​