By Verdel Bishop
When Miguel Abraham was a young boy, those around him thought his self expression through art was just a phase.
But at the age of 19, Abraham has produced a body of work that consists of over 30 of contemporary art, which has gained immense recognition. Abraham just finished secondaryschool,andwhile continues hone his craft, his aim is and save enough money to pursue enrolling in a visual arts Abraham, from Africa Grounds in Enterprise, Chaguanas, went to Carapichaima East Secondary School where he said he began to hone his craft during the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘I went to Carapichaima East Secondary where I was not performing too academically. So my mother made a big sacrifice and for me to attend CTS College where I improved drastically and developed into a better individual. I have a few hobbies such as reading, listening and playing football, but passion, which is art,’ Abraham He said: ‘At around age started to draw in the back schoolbooks, which my teachers but I still did it anyway. Back could have drawn to some I wasn’t too good at it at until late 2020, during the I realised I had a love for I needed something to do time and, instead of playing the entire time, I started Abraham said.
It wasn’t until Abraham himself to make a poster extent of his talent. ‘One on Instagram, I saw posters for some of my favourite shows and characters for sale. I wanted to get my hands on some, but I couldn’t afford them. Then I came up with the idea of making my own posters. That very night, I got to work on the posters. At the end, they came out so fantastic that my friends and family were so shocked, even I couldn’t believe that I drew something like that,’ Abraham said.
He said: ‘My friends asked me to draw some posters of their favourite shows for them, which I did, and upon seeing their faces filled with joy and excitement, along with their wide smiles, I realised this is something I wanted to continue doing for a long time,’ Abraham said. Abraham chose to highlight mental health through his latest body of work. ‘One night, I was speaking to a friend. She was telling me about the negative effects overthinking has on her mental health, her family life and her relationships with others. She was also telling me about the fact that she is not able to sleep during the night or do the things she loves anymore. After speaking to her and cheering her t f lbtt Id iddt d uptofeelbetter, decidedtodoa piece about overthinking called ‘A Beautiful Afterthought’.
Abraham explained that his work ‘Beautiful Afterthought’ is not about suicide but rather overthinking. ‘The point of this piece was to help people overcome the hurdle of overthinking through some dark-themed art. Most importantly, for me, I keep in mind the people who view my art, I try to incorporate things that they would want to see and ideas that they may have. I put into consideration their criticism, their likes and dislikes, and try to better my skills on that, but always make sure to create things I want to.
So if my work does stand out, it would be for those reasons,’ he said.
Art is therapy, Abraham said. ‘Apart from making others happy, it’s like a personal therapist, something I could confine myself to, an escape from things that trouble me. I try to put my emotions on the paper; whether I feel down, depressed or even a strong sense of love, try to put it all into what I’m creating,’ he said.
For now, Abraham’s medium of choice is Prismacolor pencils as he cannot afford anything Prismacolor pencils, I use a 48-piece set a all of my coloured pieces. I worked four days tiling just to afford them. But it was worth the sacrifice because it’s so easy to use. It’s so beautiful and vibrant on paper, and it just pops. It’s an overall joy to use. I also only use Faber-Castell markers due to their having the best quality in colour consistency compared to the others I used.
Abraham sees a bright future as a creative. ‘I love art and want to improve. I’m at home at the moment because I just finished CXC exams and I am looking a dream to study visual arts so to be employed ,but I have my aim is to enrol at The UWI or UTT programme. I would also like to go abroad to do further studies and training, but I know that this can only happen with the right support and resources,’ he said. The creative is determined to make his dreams become a reality. He is also working on his fashion line, which he hopes will also be a success. ‘I am currently working on designing men’s clothing, specifically streetwear. I had always been interested in fashion design, so I decided to start now. The aim with this is to incorporate a mixture of our traditional with other cultures, for example, Asian, European He hopes the time will come when he will have an opportunity to exhibit his work at an art gallery. For now, he uses social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram and Western,’ he said.
