MADE IN TRINIDAD
Where are we made?
Creative Lineage
Artist-originated vision · Steelpan traced from Jonathan Scales' instrument · Paired tablas assembled by the artist in Microsoft Paint · Kwame drew the T and digitally redrew the full composition · First printed design entirely human-made · Later AI work in refinement and reflection only
The Vision
MADE IN TRINIDAD came after MADE IN BOONE.
In meditation, I saw paired tablas forming the central I, with a steelpan above them.
The image brought different cultural inheritances into one form without asking either to disappear.
Tabla, Steelpan, Trinidad
Around the same time, Trinidad and Tobago was debating the symbols on its Coat of Arms.
The steelpan was being proposed in place of the Columbus-associated ships, while another question was being asked: what about tassa?
The design answered in its own way.
The instrument I carried into the form was tabla, not tassa.
The paired drums became the I beneath the steelpan.
The Making
I traced the steelpan from an actual instrument belonging to pannist Jonathan Scales.
I joined the paired tablas in Microsoft Paint.
Then Kwame entered the making.
He drew the T and digitally redrew the full composition, including MADE IN TRINIDAD.
His hand is part of the garment's visual lineage.
Into Print
The first production happened in Trinidad.
I selected a Pantone green, and Sylvan worked with a Trinidad paint mixer to carry that color into the printing process.
The garment was not only about Trinidad in name. Part of its physical making happened there too.
Where Are We Made?
The phrase continued to open for me beyond birthplace.
We can be shaped by where we live, work, love, create, raise family, and change.
A place can participate in making us without erasing where we began.
What Continued to Open
Later came AI experiments in refinement, along with more reflection around rhythm, unity, and remembrance.
Those belong later.
The first printed MADE IN TRINIDAD was already complete through human hands.
The Remembrance
A vision.
Paired tablas.
A steelpan.
My hand.
Kwame's hand.
A garment printed in Trinidad.
And a question still open:
Where are we made?
Reflect OurSelves