Flags
They come in relentless waves like a sweet battalion Armed with the thunder of music and shrapnels of laughter Unfurling the flags on Chepstow Avenue to subdue the vanquished A stampede of soca dancers splashing in rivers of rum Photo Hugh Ardoin The Notting Hill 2017 Carnival Gallery
Putting a show between an art gallery and a police horse poster Two girls shake their assets to shock and stun on Westbourne Grove Wrapped in Grenada and Jamaica bright colors shaking their derrières at the crowd of gawkers Taking twerk to another dimension, we are sent flying to the Moon on a one-way ticket […]
The long caravan of music rigs forms narrow alleys Under the shadowy protection of the debonair giants Groups assemble, talk and flirt under the guise of the twilight zone Secret doings and undoings unfurl like flags in a soft breeze Photo Hugh Ardoin The Notting Hill 2018 Carnival Gallery
Dreams of a hungry “Robinson Cursoe” castaway on a “dessert island” One sweet girl for each day of the week, except for Friday thanks to Defoe Flying their own colors Jamaica, Dominican Republic Dominica Grenada Rum to chocolate skin-tones blessed by sun, the sea and the tropical spirits Photo Hugh Ardoin The Notting Hill 2018 […]
Wrapped in their flags, wearing diadems ,tiaras or feathered crowns Beauty queens step into the streets to join the fray but always remain above the fray This dark beauty temporarily wraps her nudity under a Ghanaian flag The old Gold Coast of the colonies, the door to oblivion where so many left For centuries, slave […]
Happy black beauty with a giant sunflower on fire, waving the flag A flag from a British Overseas Territory, a vestige of the slave trade And a Jamaican flag tied to her handbag dancing to the reggae music The celebration and the remembrance, the old tradition of masquerade The day of emancipation when the chains […]
As the revelers scatter down the hill Girls pose for a quick melancholic picture Bright colors spill out of the of the flags They reflect in the eyes like faraway islands In the hazing of loud music and strong spirits Carnival is like a monster swallowing the crowds The Geryon of Dante’s Inferno Hugh Ardoin […]