Bob Heath - Our Time Now

'Our Time Now' was created during lockdown as a response to and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

I have used the imagery in this painting as a backdrop for  collage elements for 3 Preston Caribbean Carnival images.

I would like to thank Cynthia, Gana and Tina  McCoy for providing me with photographs from their archives that have inspired the images.

I have worked on Preston Caribbean Carnival as an artist since 1987. Most of the images used are from the 1970's and 80's when Preston Carnival and myself were both a lot younger!!!

I enjoyed trying to recreate how it felt to be on the road back then- most times in a costume dancing to the sweet Soca rhythms.

Nowadays before lockdown I and the band Cacophany Arkestra could be seen performing at Preston Carnival and many other regional carnival events dressed in sen say costumes. Our unofficial uniforms - directly inspired by Dominican Carnival tradition.

I would like to thank Gana McCoy- Preston Caribbean Carnival's first carnival artist  for introducing me to his rich and varied culture which he and other islanders brought with them when in the 50's and 60's they came to work in the Northwest industries.

His generation greatly enriched Preston's Cultural Heritage and the three collages are a celebration of their achievements in creating and developing Preston Caribbean Carnival.

- Bob Heath (2020)