Designer uses mas costumes to tell Trinidad and Tobago stories in UK

Designer Deron Attzs believes Carnival costumes, especially kings and queens, should not just be beautiful, but have meaning beyond a band’s theme.

This belief, and the resulting products, took him to the UK to play mas, engage in discussions about TT’s culture and generally represent the country.

“I wanted everything I do as a masquerader to have a deeper relevance outside of the competition aspect of Carnival. So it had to have life after Carnival. And the story of the costumes I did had relevance and sparked interest in the UK.”

Attzs started playing mas as a Carnival King with his band Simply Smooth Productions in 2022 and, in 2023, he and his two king costumes, Out of the Darkness into the Light and The Conduit Messenger Healer, were off to the UK.

“The first two years of this particular decade were shrouded in darkness and mystery with regard to covid19. So 2023 was the first year of coming out of that hole, that period of so much death and loss of life. We lost over seven million people globally.

"That's why the costume was called Out of the Darkness into the Light. So it represented a new beginning, a new birthing.”

He said Out of the Darkness into the Light was a 16-by-16-feet wide and 16-feet-tall white and silver costume representing purity. On its wings were the names of people of cultural influence who survived the pandemic, including Machel Montano, Calypso Rose and the Mighty Sparrow.

The other, The Conduit Messenger Healer, was a 17-by-17-feet wide and 17-feet-tall black and silver costume with the names of over 2,000 people who died after contributing to TT mas, pan, sports, culture, media and more written on its wings.

He lamented that he had to remove the name of calypsonian Denyse Plummer from the white costume and add it to the black when she died of cancer on August 27.

Representing the Torrance Mohammed Culture and Arts Foundation, Attzs was invited to be part of four carnivals in the UK as well as to speak in workshops and schools on the idea of rejuvenating the visibility of TT creativity and Carnival.

This was done through Rubadiri Victor, president of the Artists’ Coalition of TT, who said the mission was part of an annual exhibition, Pantheon, highlighting relevant traditional mas costumes, curated Carnival history, and interactive exhibits and king and queen costumes that still existed.

Victor said even though TT was creating things that were unique to the country, most of the king and queen costumes were destroyed after Carnival so there were no artifacts and the skills were disappearing.

He said one of the reasons the costumes were destroyed was because they did not have a circuit to other carnivals or art spaces to be displayed.

Pantheon, however, sought to change that. Its many objectives included creating a museum warehouse to house and preserve some king and queen costumes for exhibit until a “proper” national Carnival and steelband museum was created.

It also hoped to reproduce costumes for toys and dolls, and take the costumes out of TT to showcase and create a narrative around them abroad.

“It’s important to broaden the mainstream understanding of the king and queen costume tradition beyond a folk-y thing that TT and them do as part of this kind of folk festival, Carnival, which is what a lot of metropolitan mainstream media reduce the festival to.

“One of the ways to redeem that is to position these things to be seen at fine art objects, as postmodern works of art and to be spoken about in those kinds of spaces.”

So when he was invited by the UK Centre for Carnival Arts to lead a masterclass on storytelling for UK Carnival professionals in Luton, England, in May he met with several Carnival stakeholders in an attempt to set up a tour for local king and queen costumes.

Trinidadian Ancil Wong of Elimu Mas band, which is based in London, expressed an interest, got funding via a grant, and chose Attzs’ costumes to be part of the band.

From August 18-September 14, Victor, Attzs and his costumes graced Notting Hill and Kingston carnivals, had a courtesy call with the High Commissioner for TT to the UK, Vishnu Dhanpaul, attended the unveiling of a portrait of Trinidadian master tailor Andrew Ramroop at the TT High Commission and attended a TT Independence Day event by the online group Rejuvenation Nation

They also collaborated with Paddington Arts, a community-based organisation that develops creative talent and provides a safe space for youths to explore their passions. There, they led informal workshops and taught different aspects of TT arts and culture.

Separate from Pantheon, Attzs also attended the Edinburgh Festival Carnival and Hackney Carnival Roadshow, did mas presentations at schools in the UK, and did a lot of networking with the diaspora.

Attzs said, “We had the opportunity for them to question us about the art, the Carnival pieces, the costumes, how it was made, what it entailed and stuff. We also gave them a history and background of TT Carnival, where it originated, our characters and that kind of thing.”

He said the children were amazed at the size and story behind the costumes and wanted to know more.

“When you can look at a costume and see that become an organic living art piece that is ever-evolving, it's a different type of mas. It hits you different and it presents itself differently. "And this is the kind of mas I do. It's not like I could create for a category like fantasy. No, it has relevance and meaning.

"I have chosen...to not do anything that doesn't have a deeper meaning outside of a competitive zone, because I think we have lost social studies in school, so we don't know our history.

“Calypso is used as time capsules of situations or circumstances that would have affected us at that point in time. This is what I do with the mas. I use the mas like a time capsule, to solidify our history within the context of the mas, but with a broader message to carry outside of a competitive environment.”

He said using the various Carnival platforms to present his costumes gave him the opportunity to have a deeper conversation about Carnival, mas and TT in general, outside of Carnival – and he hoped he influenced others to do the same.