Embah shares poems, pictures at art display

For Cee, an exhibition of works by artist Emheyo Bahabba—better known as Embah—opened last week at Soft Box Art Gallery, in Woodbrook. The artist, also a poet and musician, gave a reading of some of his poetic works at the Alcazar Street gallery on April 16. The exhibition features 35 multi-media works by the veteran artist, known for his unmistakable home-grown style. Embah’s work centres on the cultural history and heritage of T&T. The works on show at For Cee reflect this, along with his adventurous use of materials and presentation.

Cricketers, Carnival masqueraders and panmen, along with mystical and abstract forms inhabit Embah’s canvasses, many of which feature ornate frames and 3-D flourishes. At the event on Saturday, Embah greeted a small gathering of art lovers and read from his scrapbook pasted with poems, news articles and pictures. In Embah’s poetry, as in his art, he is simply, unpretentiously, himself, which is precisely the reason for his popularity in recent years. As he read each piece, bent and squinting over the pages so he could make out the writing, he interpreted and explained the works, charming his guests with his simple, folk sensibility and roots wisdom, at times singing and playing around with his cuatro: “I do not sing because I am happy, I sing the song because the song is about happiness.”

Embah told the gathering that the most precious thing they possessed was their voice, and that it was important to connect with one’s “inner being” in order to be in alignment with creativity. He spoke on the art of poetry itself, describing how workers of bygone days would sing together to lighten their load, the music becoming part of them. He said, “in the same way, poetry, if you live with it, becomes part of you”.
“It is a feeling, something that attaches to the inner you, your inner force.” He said it was important to keep a light spirit, saying: “In this world, laughter is better than gold.” Interviewed after the reading, Embah revealed the concept behind the name of the exhibition, For Cee. He said it was a pierrot grenade-style reinterpretation of the “four Cs” which he feels define Caribbean culture: cricket, Carnival, calypso and charisma.

Embah’s For Cee continues until April 28, 
at Soft Box Gallery, 9 Alcazar Street, Woodbrook.