Sketching into heart of our culture

DARA E HEALY

“At my age, I just want to do the work. I don’t want to get distracted by commercial projects.”

–­ In conversation with Jackie Hinkson at the Nalis exhibition of his sketches

I AM NOT sure he would agree, but for me Jackie Hinkson carries with him a sense of ancestral responsibility, an intangible but real connection to artists across the ages. I marvelled at decades of drawings spread out on tables, mounted on boards and protected in glass cases. I looked across at him smiling and talking about his work. I understood that behind the gentle smile pulsed a ferocious drive to create, document the world and share his art. I guess that is why he turned me down.

As part of the promotion for the exhibition at Nalis, I noticed that he was wearing a tee-shirt with an amazing drawing of a midnight robber. I told him that a few years ago we had done a similar project with traditional masquerades and would he consider a collaboration. But even before he responded I could see the refusal in his eyes. He still has a burning passion to "to do the work," but according to his priorities. Anything else would pull him away from this mission and focus. I certainly get that.

But his refusal has a deeper reason. Traditional masquerades and steelpan were a part of his childhood and also his coming of age. He regularly tells a story about “the drama of the steelband coming out of the darkness” on a Jouvay (J'Ouvrert) morning in Port of Spain. “I know as a child standing up outside my front gate with my great aunt holding my hand and hearing the Red Army steelband come up Sackville Street, turn up Richmond Street...pan ’round de neck of course. When you experience that in your childhood, it never leaves you.”

In over 40 years, Jackie Hinkson has filled hundreds of sketch pads and notebooks with his drawings; it is said over 10,000. From old-time bars to attractive women, his travels or ordinary items like feet, the collection speaks to a lifetime of observing and capturing stories.

In an online interview, Jackie talked about needing to draw something every day to practice his craft. As he explains, “It’s not so much a matter of how talented you are, or how gifted you are…but it’s a matter of discipline, of working at it.”

As with many artists of his era, he believes in always staying critical of one’s work and not becoming fixated on success or praise. Even though he recognises the significance of his body of work, he admits, “I’m so scared of falling into that trap of self-satisfaction that I move away from it quickly.”

The gentle smile also helps to disguise how political he is. Traditional masquerades provide him with an outlet to comment on situations that concern him. Interestingly, long before this recent conversation about Carnival and noise, he talked about a time when midnight robbers made speeches that you could actually hear because there were no music trucks to drown them out.

As we continue to debate how Carnival affects us, whether through noise, loss of jobs or the impact of the festival on the environment, perhaps it is time to focus on different narratives and new solutions. For instance, how can we reclaim the essence of Hinkson’s powerful childhood memories where Jouvay, pan and traditional masquerades were all part of a community that protected you? How can we channel his love of capturing light and the nature of ordinary things into the way that we respect the sacredness of Carnival?

I did not expect simple sketches to impact me, but they did. They revealed the heart of an artist from a perspective I never considered before. Still, just as our ancestors were compelled to etch their lives on any surface that would hold their truth, Jackie Hinkson responds to a deep need to discover and proclaim his humanity. He understands the sacredness of Carnival and our culture because he experienced it, not as a momentary release once every year, but as a core aspect of who he is as an artist and a citizen of TT. He knows that our culture is not noise but an emanation of who we are. To fully understand this, we too must do our work.

Dara E Healy is a performing artist and founder of the Idakeda Group, a cultural organisation dedicated to empowering communities through the arts