“The Isla Trinitaria group meet in a local school every Friday afternoon. This mixed group of niñ@s are from both the school and kids referred in from JUCONI.

Initially this was one of the most difficult groups with regards to behavior… the space is quite difficult to work in and the young people are pretty ´rowdy´! For this same reason it has also become one of the most fun sessions.

The group has been working from an old Ecuadorian folk tale, La Maladición Del Guayaba (the curse of the guayabas). It is an exciting story about pirates, islands and forbidden fruit. After a few crazy weeks of games the focus and silence which met the storytelling was really impressive. All the kids responded really well to the story and it was from this we began to draw inspiration for ideas. First of all they recreated the story with drawings and drama re-enactments. Then we began to work in sculpture on a large 3D scale. Using paper machè we made and painted guayabas, we then constructed a tree and island out of chicken wire, and a boat out of cardboard. The tree and island then got coated (and drenched) in paper maché glue and newspaper and sat in a cupboard awaiting the next and final week in which it would be painted.

The final week came, and with much anticipation the kids pulled the sculpture out of the cupboard… only to find it covered in mould, and the new home to millions of biting ants! Luckily however we managed to save most of it and successfully got it painted.

There is only one photo of the island… it can be seen behind a game of twister in a photo below… It is yet to receive branches and have the guayabas hung within them. But this along with some plans of drama and a public presentation are the activities of next term.

Emily Wood, Artist project leader, 2007