Mural Celebrating the Cultural and Community Heroes of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Is Now Permanently Part of Calliaqua’s Landscape
On Monday evening, the walls of the Calliaqua Playing Field came alive. In front of a crowd of community members, children, cultural leaders, and distinguished guests, Rainforest Caribbean officially unveiled “We Are Calliaqua” – a monumental public mural stretching nearly 400 feet along one of the community’s most visible walls, and now one of the largest public murals in the Eastern Caribbean, delivered in partnership with Kingston Creative.
“At Rainforest Caribbean, we have always believed that our success is inseparable from the health and vibrancy of the communities we serve,” said Brian Jardim, CEO, Rainforest Caribbean. “This mural at Calliaqua is more than colour on a wall – it is a statement of pride, belonging and our long-term commitment to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. We are honoured to have partnered with Minister Gibson Velox and the people of East St. George to bring this vision to life.”
The work, spanning 1,915.8 square feet of the playing field’s boundary wall, depicts the cultural heroes of St. Vincent and the Grenadines; musicians, community figures, athletes, and icons. It is executed in bold colour drawn from the national palette and the vivid tones of the Caribbean environment, and it is a celebration of the island’s identity painted at a scale impossible to ignore.
The “We Are Calliaqua” mural was the brainchild of Minister Laverne Gibson-Velox and was made possible through the generous investment and support of Rainforest Caribbean, Kingston Creative, Pros Paints, Sherwin-Williams SVG, and the Ministry of Culture, St. Vincent and the Grenadines who played a key role in artist selection and community engagement.
“When we heard about this project we immediately offered to come on board as a sponsor,” commented Roland Samuel, CEO of Pros Paints. “We wanted to make sure that this artwork is vibrant and inspiring for years to come.”
The “We Are Calliaqua” project was implemented by Kingston Creative, Jamaica’s leading arts organisation. Based in Downtown Kingston, they have nearly a decade of experience delivering landmark mural and creative placemaking projects and capacity-building programmes for creatives.
Lead design artist Anthony ‘Taoszen’ Smith is the winner of the Royal Caribbean Artist Award (2025) and the creative force behind landmark murals including Sabina Park, Water Lane in the Kingston Art District, and the largest mural in Curaçao. He designed this mural and then travelled to St. Vincent to lead the execution of the work. He was joined by four accomplished artists whose individual practices and deep roots in SVG’s creative community shaped the finished work. The supporting artists are Carlique Craigg, Christine Browne, Julaé Ross, and Kristopher Simmons; four Vincentian creatives selected in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, each bringing their distinct artistic voice to the collaborative execution.
“This wall now belongs to Calliaqua. Every child who walks past it will see someone who looks like them, who came from here, and who made something of themselves. That is the most powerful thing art can do,” commented the lead artist, Anthony ‘Taoszen’ Smith.
The seamless collaboration between artists from Jamaica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines was itself a statement. It reflects a model of Caribbean creative exchange that Kingston Creative hopes will inspire future cross-island artistic partnerships across the region.
“We are particularly proud of this mural project, as it represents the kind of regional collaboration we imagined when we founded Kingston Creative nine years ago. Through this partnership with Rainforest Caribbean, we leveraged a truly collaborative model for delivering impactful public art across the islands.” stated Allan Daisley, Cofounder and Chairman of Kingston Creative. “We have done murals in Haiti and Curacao, but seeing this wall come alive in the country where I was born makes this one extra special.”
Alongside the mural execution, Rainforest Caribbean donated a generous gift of much needed art supplies to the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Community College. They also funded an in-person capacity-building workshop and career talk for emerging artists; a structured session covering large-format mural design methodology, surface preparation, paint application and layering at scale, and the process of translating a digital design concept to a physical wall. The workshop was delivered by Anthony Taoszen Smith with the support of Shanique Stewart, Visual Arts Development Officer, Ministry of Culture of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Stewart trained at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica and also previously created two public art murals in Jamaica, in partnership with Kingston Creative.
The goal of this collaborative regional art project was not just for beautification, but to leave valuable skills and knowledge in the hands of SVG’s creative community — equipping local artists to conceive, plan, and execute large-scale public works independently in the years ahead.