Our 10-year Commemorative Poster by the artist Jackie Hinkson

100 numbered, signed copies of this collectible 2020 festival poster are available!

Marking 10 years of the Bocas Lit Fest, our anniversary poster depicts Jackie Hinkson’s specially commissioned drawing of the iconic Old Fire Station in downtown Port of Spain, buttressed by the National Library, the home of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest.

About the artist

Donald “Jackie” Hinkson is a highly revered artist from Trinidad and Tobago. Focused at first on plein air watercolours and drawing, Hinkson has
since expanded his expression to include oils, acrylics, wood sculpture and iPad art, producing from small to mural-size work. His style has remained mostly realistic and figurative, but often with a strong sense of the abstract, and his subjects range from landscape to architecture, the human figure in all aspects of national life, and social commentary. The artist has exhibited locally, regionally and internationally with a major retrospective in 2012.

He has produced four books on his life and art. His over 100 sketch pads have been inscribed by UNESCO into Trinidad and Tobago’s Memory of the World Register in 2010. In 2011 the University of the West Indies conferred on him an Honorary Doctorate. In 2019 the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago conferred on him the Chaconia Medal Gold.

About the Old Fire Station

Originally built in 1896/1897 and refurbished and renovated in 1999/2000, the Old Fire Station is an excellent example of the preservation of a historic building which has been elegantly blended with the modern architectural landscape of the city. The building itself is the first reinforced concrete structure in Port of Spain and is a fine combination of old and new construction technology, with well-articulated quoins and traditional stone markings. The building is well proportioned and functional in design, a central tower providing a lookout over Port of Spain. There is a beautiful rhythm to the fenestration and fire engine doors. The design is tropical, allowing good cross ventilation, and can perhaps be described as being a transition from traditional to modern Trinidad and Tobago architecture. (Source: nationaltrust.tt)

For 10 years (1989 to 1999), it was the home of the Trinidad Theatre Workshop, founded and directed by St Lucian poet and Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott. It was eventually incorporated into the National Library Complex and remains a historic gem in the city of Port of Spain.