Enter the Dragon's Mouth
2024 marked the 13th edition of the First Citizens National Poetry Slam, now firmly established as the largest stage for Spoken Word in the Caribbean. With a TT $50,000 first-place prize, it remains the most significant cash award for Spoken Word artists in the region.
This year's theme celebrated the power of words, rooted in the creative lore of local geography, Bocas del Dragón. In my role as Graphic Designer and Creative Lead, I conceptualised the theme, crafting bold, culturally relevant, and compelling visuals that reinforced Slam's reputation as a space for impactful storytelling.
Bocas del Dragón are a series of straits off the coast of Trinidad, separating the Gulf of Paria from the Caribbean Sea. As a project of the Bocas Lit Fest, developing this theme provided me with the opportunity to draw inspiration from our geography and the broader literary purpose of the festival.
To market the Semi-Finals, I used satellite imagery of Bocas del Dragón to create maps and visual motifs that patterned the graphics.
In the general Semi-Finals graphics, we see all the islands alongside a compass and three canoes of voyagers traversing the waters en route to a treasure located on the isle of Chacachacare. Here, the Boca Grande (or Grand Boca) separates Trinidad and Tobago from Venezuela by 11 kilometres.
In the graphics for Semi-Finals 1 and 2, the voyagers—metaphors for the poets and event participants—stop at different islands between the Bocas, their journeys culminating at the treasured Grand Slam.
In the graphics for Semi-Finals 1 and 2, the voyagers—metaphors for the poets and event participants—stop at different islands between the Bocas, their journeys culminating at the treasured Grand Slam.
At the Slam's Auditions phase, audiences and prospective competitors were introduced to the lore without naming its geographic reference. They were simply invited to enter the dragon's mouth. It was essential for me that the audience follow the theme as a story first before embarking on the literal journey from Trinidad to Bocas del Dragón, a familiar journey for locals and visitors en route to Tobago by ferry.
At the closing event of the festival, the Grand Slam of Legends honoured all the remarkable writers and performers who made it to the end. Out of more than 80 auditioned poets, 17 went up against the dragon and one left with the TT $50,000 (approx. €6,500) prize.
Reflection
Although I'm thankful to work on the Slam remotely, it's always a challenge to bring it alive from afar. I'm incredibly grateful to the Slam team for consistently trusting my vision and direction, especially when the concept is so story-driven and abstract.
Working on this while completing my master's thesis, "Stimulation and Emotional Engagement: Enhancing Human-Car Interaction," allowed me to immerse myself in fiction while thinking creatively about technology.
Now, who knows where we go from here?
