This month, Londoners have a chance to see Saint Lucian artist Alwyn St Omer’s Moon Dancer series of paintings based on traditional mas.
As the son of an acclaimed St Lucian artist who designed the country’s flag, it was almost inevitable that Alwyn St Omer would choose art as his profession. After studying at the Edna Manley School for the Visual Arts in Jamaica and Portsmouth College in the UK, St Omer has built a reputation as one of the country’s foremost artists. His work has included designing an as-yet unbuilt National Independence Monument, painting huge murals, illustrating books and producing TV programmes.
St Omer – himself a carnival mas band leader and designer – is passionate about using paintings to revive interest in the country’s creole masquerade traditions. He is one of the illustrators of June Frederick’s book Saint Lucia’s Traditional Masquerade.
Castries-born St Omer tells of the Pie Banan and other masqueraders: “They roamed the streets of Castries at Christmas time, stopping at innumerable locations; they performed for rich and poor alike, up to the mid-1970s, the time of Everton Lawrence, the last of the Toes, or Pa Pa Jab.” He explains that “the mask, a ritualistic gift from the African past, was a convenient medium of escapism in our ancestors’ secret acts of rebellion”.
- Moon Dancer by Alwyn St Omer is on show from 16 to 30 September at London Lighthouse Gallery, 18 Lyell St, City Island, London E14 0SZ; nearest station: Canning Town.
