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.

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.