Exclusive Offer from Bocas Lit Fest on Lovelace & Hinkson Posters!
In celebration of its 15th anniversary, Bocas Lit Fest is offering literature and art lovers the opportunity to own a rare piece of Festival history and support the future of Caribbean literature.
The two special limited-edition posters and three comissioned works of art are now available as tribute to Caribbean creativity, literature, and art.
2025 Commemorative Festival Poster: ‘Reader Close to Palms’ by Che Lovelace
Printed in an edition of 300, this poster reproduces Lovelace’s 2022 painting Reader Close to Palms (acrylic and dry pigment on board panels). Use of the image was generously donated by Lovelace. Each poster measures 18 x 24 inches, printed by Trinpad, BLF’s official print partner for the 2025 Bocas Lit Fest. Posters are available at TT$200
2020’s 10-Year Anniversary Festival Poster: ‘The Old Fire Station’ by Jackie Hinkson
Marking 10 years of the Bocas Lit Fest, this poster depicts Jackie Hinkson’s specially commissioned drawing of the iconic Old Fire Station in downtown Port of Spain – home of the Bocas Lit Fest. 100 numbered, signed copies of this collectible poster are available at TT$300.
Exclusive Milestone 2-for-1 Deal: Get these two limited-edition festival posters for just TT$300:
- – 15-Year Commemorative Poster: ‘Reader Close to Palms’ by Che Lovelace — priced at TT$200 and
- – The 10-Year Anniversary Poster (signed): ‘The Old Fire Station’ by Jackie Hinkson — originally priced at TT$300
Also available are three original limited edition works of art commissioned by Bocas Lit Fest between 2011 to 2013. These editions, signed by the artists are still available for sale at TT$3,000.
From 2011 to 2013, the Bocas Lit Fest invited an artist to create an original limited edition work of art. The first numbered piece in the edition becomes part of the unique Collection of Festival Art of the National Museum and Art Gallery, the sponsor of the work.
Give and Take, by Chris Ofili (2011)
Watercolour, pastel and charcoal on paper/ Size: 27 x 17.75 inch/ Prints by Omnicolour Productions, London,UK.
The first artist to create a work of art for the Bocas Lit Fest is the internationally renowned fine artist, Chris Ofili, whose work exists in prestigious private and institutional collections.
What the artist perceives as the mystical quality of Trinidad, “the landscape is hilly, the vegetation is dense, and you have the constant feeling that things are happening on the other side of the hill deep in the forest” (Thelma Golden and Chris Ofili: Conversation 2009) is evident in this new work for the Bocas Lit Fest
Give and Take expresses the artist’s belief in the special energy that feeds the creative spirit in Trinidad and Tabage, Elements of the dense landscape mingle with Imagery of the voluptuous flora, the tumultuous seas, and references to the country’s vialant colonial maritime history. The lone human figure holds up a vessel into which and from which manna-like substance pours.
☿ (Mercury), by Nikolai Noel (2012)
Silkscreen on archival paper / 27 x 19.5 inches/ Studio: Axelle Fine Art, NY.
The 2012 festival artist was Trinidadian Nikolai Noel. His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions locally and internationally. ☿ (Mercury) is from a wider series called Gathering Instruments, in which the artist invents a mythological voyager. At sea in a strange world, this voyager searches for a home — both physical and spiritual — somewhere over the horizon. Noel refers to images from cartography, geometry, optics, astronomy, and also alchemy and magic, as he imagines “a fictional process and apparatus” for navigating this journey. ☿ (Mercury) depicts “this stranded figure accessing arcane information,” Noel writes, “in an effort to find a starting place,” a new centre.
The title of the work refers to both the planet Mercury and the element mercury as understood in ancient alchemy. Astrologically, the planet Mercury is believed to govern human reasoning and thinking, communication, and adaptability to changing circumstances. Alchemists considered the element mercury to be the prima materia or “first matter” of all metals — the beginning point for the mythical transmutation of base substances into gold. Noel’s image is a visual allegory of humankind’s search for
knowledge and understanding of the world, using “instruments” of both science and the magination. It also depicts Caribbean people’s quest to imagine, find, or build their new home in the waters of the New
World, drawing on their ancestral knowledge to create a new map that locates the Caribbean at the centre of our own destiny.
Transmission by Wendy Nanan (2013)
Aquatint etching with colour and linocut on Arches buff paper 22 x 30 inches/ Studio: Lower East Side Print Shop, NY Printmaker: Erik Hougen.
The 2013 festival artist was Wendy Nanan. She has been exhibiting regularly since 1985, including shows in France, Britain, Canada, and the Dominican Republic. During the 2012 Lit Fest, works from her Books and Stupas exhibition were installed at the National Library of Trinidad and Tobago.
Transmission pursues Nanan’s interest in the book form, and the idea of the transfer of knowledge. It depicts two pairs of figures in silhouette. In the first pair, the Buddha transmits the knowledge of the Dharma to a Zen Master, “a wordless transference of enlightenment which is possible only when insight matches insight.” The second pair of figures depicts Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama — “the ultimate fulfilment of Lincoln’s Thirteenth Amendment.”
The artist explains: “These are two bookmarks in time, of the human spirit transcending itself to make what once seemed impossible, possible, and of the continuation of the ancestral line of men and women who seek truth. They are drawn as negative profiles, referring to the mental test of whether one sees the positive or negative image. One has to consciously adjust the normal way of looking at things to see the faces.”
Funds raised from the sale of collectible works of art will support the year-round work of the Bocas Lit Fest with writers and readers of all ages.
Where to buy:
Available at Paper Based Bookshop, 14 Alcazar Street, St. Clair.
Reservations can be made online, but only confirmed upon payment at the store.
Reserve your works of art at https://bocaslitfest.com/festival-art/
All collections at the Paper Based Bookshop.
Please note: At this time BLF is unable to facilitate local delivery or overseas shipping of these fragile, valuable works of art, but they can be collected at The Writers Centre, 14 Alcazar Street, St. Clair, Port of Spain.
