My mother's face lights up when she reaches again for memories of her Tobago and life in Trinidad--the sojourn to the next island she took at 9 years old.
A solitary day. A welcome change.
About Sunday night...
"God is a Trini."
Arima
Arima is the home of the first people to inhabit Trinidad and means "water." I am staying in an apartment adjacent to Santa Rosa Church Park and Santa Rosa R.C. Church. When in 1757, Spanish Capuchin priests colonized Arima, they built a church and established a mission in the town. The church was dedicated to Rosa, who was a Amerindain girl from Lima, Peru, who had been canonized as Santa Rosa de Lima. The Spanish missionary influence is remains apart of Arima history and can be traced through the survival of the Amerindian community residing just minutes from my front door step.
Catharsis
"The Assimilation of My Tongue"
My eyes and tongue drink in the concentrate of Trinidadian culture; and it is a powerful assault to my heart and breath patterns. I am both afraid of this feeling and eager to investigate it--to pull it apart in the studio. I returned home with a bad headache, evidence of the sensory overload, I guess.
