Special Exhibit of Trinidad-style Carnival Costumes Made by Hartford Teens

The Institute for Community Research will host the opening of Mas: Costumes from Hartford’s West Indian Community at the ICR Gallery, 2 Hartford Square West, 146 Wyllys St., in Hartford. The exhibit will feature colorful and imaginative costumes (Mas) such as those worn in Trinidad-style Carnivals around the world, including Hartford.

The event will also mark the graduation of 15 young women who have been learning how to make and wear the costumes.

Each teen has designed and built a complete costume, including headpiece, arm and foot bands, girdles, collars, backpacks, and all frames and attachments needed for wearing the elaborate structures. The teens have been trained in “displaying” their costumes and have formed a Carnival “Band” called the Exotic Ones. They will be performing with their costumes in the Taste of the Caribbean Festival at the Riverfront on August 6, and in the West Indian Parade on August 13.

The exhibit will include some of these costumes displayed in the gallery and the teens “masquerading” their costumes in person, accompanied by the Hartford Steel Symphony led by master steel pan maker and player Kelvin Griffith.