‘Jouvert’ launched on the Hill

About her latest publication Mahabir said, “This book contains no resemblance of any true character in Trinidad and Tobago. It is all fictitious.”

Ideally called Jouvert, the book is written around a young girl named Annaise growing up in Trinidad who longs to be a visual artist. She is influenced by the vibrant river scenes in her village, as well as the iridescent swirling colours she finds in the Carnival J’ouvert parades in the streets of San Fernando. Her experiences open her eyes to the fierce and vulnerable edges of life and beauty in the Caribbean.

Reading from two chapters of the book, Mahabir gave a lively description of a visit to Mayaro beach and Annaise’s first romantic encounter. She also desc-ribed Annaise’s trip to High Street, San Fernando, where vendors and taxi drivers call out to her using the local slangs.

In her summary, Mahabir touched on Annaise’s journey to New York and her awakening to the different lifestyles. While in New York Annaise saw that the contradiction between the world of gallery art in Manhattan and the world of Caribbean art which she found in Brooklyn.

A visit with relatives to Toronto unearths old family secrets, hidden hostilities, and gives her new understanding of immigrant family relations as well as art.

Some years later, Annaise goes to Trinidad to reconnect with her mother and there she gains deeper insights into the Indo-Caribbean culture through the feminine energies and rhythms that surround her, and in turn inspire her art. She returns to New York where she finds love and kinship in the Caribbean and African-American communities in Brooklyn, and she discovers the path that she must follow in order to create the J’ouvert arts of the street and the earth.

Mahabir lives in New York and teaches Caribbean Studies and Global Literature at Suffolk County Community College of the State University of New York. She was involved with Conscious Lyrics, a spoken-word poetry group. Her previous publication is titled Miraculous Weapons: Revolutionary Idea-logy in Caribbean Culture.

Following the book launch at the San Fernando Hill, Mahabir spent the evening signing autographs and talking to friends and relatives about her life as a writer.