Heroes project focuses on Bishop’s art

TT needs to recognise and celebrate its own heroes. National Gas Company (NGC) president Mark Loquan made this observation at the launch of the company’s 2018 National Heroes Project at Stollmeyer’s Castle last Wednesday night.

He told the audience, which included Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George, that the project is intended to teach TT’s children about “the men and women who have given their lives in service to this country.”

Loquan said the project was launched last year with an exhibition honouring Hasely Crawford, TT’s first Olympic gold medallist.

Wednesday’s launch honoured the work of Pat Bishop, who died in 2011. Loquan said Bishop was “no ordinary genius with a paintbrush” or merely a gifted musician. He said she distinguished herself in the arts at a time when very few women were doing so, “That makes her a model for our girls and young women to continue the fight against stereotypes and gender oppression.”

After the formal ceremony and musical performances, guests viewed Bishop’s final collection of paintings, She Sells Sea Shells by the Seashore. Included in the collection was one painting of a mirror on a dresser, which Bishop had left unfinished at her sudden death.