Leona Fabien highlights residents’ nightmare in Woodbrook, a Living Hell

Artist Leona Fabien’s exhibition Woodbrook: A Living Hell depicts the impact of commercialisation on the residents of the area.

Woodbrook, Port of Spain, has in recent years become a hot spot of activity and developing business community. The area, made popular by Ariapita Avenue, which has become the centre for night crawlers and bar hoppers from all over the country, has also attracted restaurateurs and street food vendors.

As outsiders gravitate to Woodbrook for business and entertainment, the development has become a nightmare for people who live there.

Artist and Woodbrook resident Fabien's most recent collection of 42 pieces depicts the impact of commercialisation on the residents.

The exhibit, a partnership with the University of the West Indies, can be viewed at the Soft Box Gallery, St Clair, Port of Spain, until May 13.

A statement from the gallery said the exhibit explores the outcome of the cultural and social changes on the residents, the altering of the built environment and ultimately the demolition of the older residences in the once predominately residential neighbourhood. The research was done by Fabien in partial fulfilment of the requirements in cultural studies at the UWI department of literary, cultural and communication studies.

“The area was once very residential,” she told Newsday in a phone interview on Friday.

Reflecting on her 35 years living in the area, she said it was a very different place in her childhood years. “We used to play football in the streets safely. There were a lot more children in yards playing. There were chickens and dogs, children outdoors.

“There were a lot more fruit trees and it was very quiet and clean. Even if businesses were next door to you, you could play on their compound. You can’t do that now.” She said it was difficult for her to pinpoint when the area changed but the changes felt drastic and sudden.

“After a while it just happened. I tried to ignore the changes because I was in a state of shock.”

She said residents have often complained about the noise pollution coming from the avenue at night, over the years. “Sleeping can be difficult (and) it seems to have had an impact on crime. We don’t know if a person is a crook or genuinely looking to help anymore.”

She said she believes people are more open now to moving out of the area.

“If (owners) get a good offer for their property, they may accept it. Still, there are a lot more residents than businesses but not along the avenue. The avenue has gone to businesses.”

Port of Spain Mayor Joel Martinez has voiced his intent to transform the avenue into a strip, prohibiting traffic and making it a walkway. Fabien said that idea will further alienate the residents.

“The younger ones don’t mind the food places and clubs. They are used to it. It’s the older folks who are alienated and totally distressed. I put myself in that category.”

Fabien said she did her research from 2018 to 2019 which included newspaper articles, photos and interviews with residents, past and present. The study focuses more on the feedback from residents.

She admits, however, that the situation is complicated as many residents are the owners of the businesses in the area, including family-owned bars, parlours, bakeries and pharmacies.

Fabien’s work also reflects the impact the seasonal Carnival celebrations have had on the area with two or three of the pieces. One piece, she said, depicts a red hand print on someone’s wall. Littering, paint and mud are common in the area and residents often complain of vandalism of their homes and other property such as cars during Carnival.

She said, however, many residents have accepted Carnival celebrations.

“Woodbrook is a nice place to be if you want to enjoy Carnival from your home. Because Carnival has always been there, residents have accepted it but it is (sometimes) out of control where revellers take liberties with homes and vehicles in the street. It’s called vandalism.”

She said in her research, an old newspaper article told the tale of a Roberts Street resident who got into an altercation with revellers after they damaged his property. She recalled the article as saying the resident complained the police station is only a stone’s throw away from his home, yet there was no intervention.

Fabien said another resident, who now lives abroad, said the harmony between residents and businesses could work if there is better planning. “(The interviewee) said he understand the inconveniences, but if younger workers live close by to where they work, like in Manhattan, New York, and it is well organised in terms of parking and people who live in the area can get to their jobs easily, they can walk to work. That’s how it works in Manhattan but it has to be planned properly.”

Fabien has received several bursary awards from UWI endowment including the MP Alladin Prize for best visual arts degree student for her final year. The statement said she participated in the Hilarian exhibition Celebrating 100 Years – A Call to Arts, held at the Castle Killarney in Port of Spain. She has been exhibiting with the Women in Art of TT since 2001. In its latest 2021 exhibition, Radiance, at the Red House’s Rotunda Gallery, she received an award of merit for most outstanding textile art.

Fabien has also had work exhibited at the National Museum and Art Gallery and Carifesta X, Georgetown, Guyana. She teaches art and design and visual arts at Bishop Anstey High School, Port of Spain.