

As we approach Emancipation day, Helena Isaac takes up the banner, sharing the St. Lucian cultural experience, as her response to the pandemic as a St. Lucian artiste and continuing to promote the cultural awareness that underscores our heritage and identity.
The ruins of this building standing in Mount Pleasant Ridge overseeing the city of Castries is steeped in history and culture. Innumerable cultural artifacts were obliterated by a fire in March 2018.
What is fashion, why is it important beyond what we wear?
The determination to herald the cultural ethos of St. Lucia is the aim, in the wake of our 2020 challenges. The tones and textures that are interlaced with our history, the trauma and the glory, find a voice in Helena’s work. That is fashion! It is this light, the illumination to the St.Lucian psyche that was the vision and mainstay of the Folk Research Centre. It is who we are, and how we wear and define ourselves.


Photos by Reese Harris, Shaddy Isaac
One would understand the zeal of the founding members and the ardour of the workers such as the late Joyce Auguste OBE, cultural icon — the inspiration behind our first editorial photoshoot. For Helena Isaac, the work of these stalwarts transcend to the tiers of society and serve a percussive function in attempts to sculpt an idea of St. Lucian-ness. Joyce Auguste’s legacy, especially to music, her poise and stature, her formidable and unrelenting celebration of this nation give hope again – not for recognition – but serve as a reminder to develop our own and to battle on in the idea of advancing our nation and its citizens. It is what we wear, and how we fashion ourselves. It is beyond adornment.
Why these heritage sites?
“We believe only by knowing our origins, can we truly understand our destination.”



