Carlisle Chang

Carlisle Fenwick Chun-Yee Chang, HBM (1921–2001) was a Trinidadian artist who designed both the national flag and coat of arms of Trinidad and Tobago. He was the country's first artist to make a living entirely from his art, and has been called the "father of Trinidadian art".

Early life and education

Chang was born in San Juan. His father William Chang, an immigrant from China, His mother, born in British Guiana, was also of Chinese descent. Chang had two older siblings—a sister, Beryl, and brother, Wesley, in addition to a half-brother from his father's previous marriage in China. Chang's father died when he was two years old. In the three-week period leading up to the independence of Trinidad and Tobago in 1962, Chang volunteered to serve on eight separate committees, including the Design Committee which was responsible for the new country's national flag and coat of arms. Chang said that he considered the design of the flag that he submitted to be "incomplete". But the rest of the committee approved the design without adding anything further to it.

Carnival design

Chang designed Carnival bands for bandleader Stephen Lee Heung from 1964 to 1975. and "We Kind Ah People", which won Band of the Year in 1975.

Later career

Chang stopped painting in the late 1970s. His mural, The Inherent Nobility of Man, was destroyed during an expansion of the Piarco International Airport in 1979. It wasn't until 1995 that he returned to painting, and held his first solo exhibition in 1997.

Artistic style

Chang has been described as "the father of Trinidadian art". His artistic style has been described as "a thoroughly indigenous fusion of the traditions of Europe with Trinidad’s folk art, coloured always by his own eclecticism". Artist and designer Peter Minshall described Chang as "among the first to understand that this place is an incredible laboratory of the New World".

Awards

Chang was awarded the Hummingbird Medal (H.B.M.).