Report from St. Augustine, Trinidad – Romel Madray

Romel Madray currently is a resident of Trinidad and forms part of the South East Asian diaspora that were brought to Trinidad as indentured laborers. His first “artform”  was calligraphy which he started practicing when he was sixteen and also learned basic temple drawing techniques of India from his mother. He rediscovered his need for creative expression after returning to Trinidad in 2008 and being cut out from the aesthetic culture of Europe. Thereafter he self-studied drawing techniques, re-investigated writing systems and reinvigorated himself through art and writing. His works can best be described as tempestuous with a contained urgency.

“I try to find what I think is a poetic abstraction of shape using the letterforms, which are spray painted on using stencils, broken and reassembled into an aesthetically appealing pattern. The blue and black ones are taken from the idea of Blade Runner, Stargate and Firefly tv series where they incorporate straight and curves in quasi ideograms in the lettering patterns.”