Ashraph's Mas

An exhibition explores the state of Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago



It all came together after months of preparation, Whe de asse..whe de mas, the Band, turned up at the Annex of Trinidad and Tobago's National Museum in Port of Spain, and at the most appropriate time. A week from now, masqueraders will be prancing on the streets for carnival 2008.

Mr. Ramsaran's (Ashraph) approach begins with the very state of Carnival. By this, his sculptural pieces played their own mas by puns and by literal representation. Ashraph's strongest works are the striking Papier-mâché Red Devils against the white walls and metal sculptures. The Midnight Robbers shows his potential as a conceptualist, with its use of ready-made objects fused together to translate a national figurehead. More amusing is the rituals of Carnival for which Mr. Ramsaran had been forewarned regarding the use of an alcohol motif. One of his Fancy Sailor suffered its fate, the golden glittered Rum bottle broke.

Visitors to the museum may be puzzled by what these forms mean, in any sense they come from a place of tradition. They are nuances to the very fabric from which Trinidad's carnival is derive from. The Midnight Robber, the Fancy Sailor, Bats, Red Devils and Fancy Indians, Kings and Queens and to its current transitional state of feathers and beads, all inclusive, as a brown paper bag.

A Carnival Exhibition, National Museum of Trinidad and Tobago, January 29th till February 10th, 2008