“I just love to paint,” says Johann Bennett, an administrative staffer at UWI St Augustine’s Department of Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies in the Faculty of Humanities and Education.
That love of painting and the many years that he’s spent honing his skill is reflected on his canvas, most recently in his piece Rooted, Ready, Rising - Pelicans in Flight at Pigeon Point Sunset. The painting has won him The UWI 75th Anniversary Staff Art Competition.
Johann and the other finalists, Sian Ramdass and Lawrence Theodore, received their prizes at a ceremony on September 28 at the JFK Quadrangle. The competition was held to commemorate The UWI’s 75 years as a Caribbean institution of higher education.
Johann’s painting, Rooted, Ready and Rising (also the university’s 75th anniversary theme), depicts the popular Tobago beach at sunset “with four pelicans rising in flight across the beautiful sky” as well as a fifth secret pelican, the artist’s note states. The pelican adorns The UWI’s coat of arms and is often used to represent the university.
“The four pelicans in flight symbolise the four campuses [St Augustine, Cave Hill, Mona, and the Open Campus] rising to higher heights,” Johann explains, “and the fifth pelican on the boat represents the Five Islands campus, which is rooted and ready, and will soon rise in flight to the heights of the others.”
A statement from the art competition’s panel of judges said, “Johann Bennett’s painting demonstrates robust creativity and originality.”
It added, “the work resonates with our institutional sensibility and communicates through a deft handling of acrylic on canvas, The UWI’s 75th anniversary positioning statement: Rooted, Ready, Rising.”
Apart from his UWI piece, another of his paintings, Brian Charles Lara - Taking Evasive Action, was selected this past September by the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago Rotunda Art Gallery Committee to be exhibited for an Independence Day and Republic Day showing.
When asked about what drives and inspires him, Johann has many answers. He is driven to support his family (he has a wife and children). He is inspired by the process of painting, and studying the work of the masters.
“But my greatest inspiration,” he says, “comes from my spiritual beliefs. This is my greatest inspiration, my purpose in Almighty Yahweh and the kingdom of heaven on Earth.”
For more information on UWI St Augustine’s 75th anniversary activities, visit the homepage at https://sta.uwi.edu/. For The UWI’s anniversary events and activities taking place throughout the Caribbean, visit https://uwi.edu/75/.
