Eighteen-year-old Ransford Simon is fast becoming recognised for his paintings and drawings. Ransford’s work has blown up on Facebook, particularly a painting called ‘Mother’s Love’, which captured three generations of an Indigenous tribe—mother, daughter and grandson—in an affectionate embrace.
The young artist, who hails from Rewa in Region Nine, said he was always mesmerised by the Pakaraima Mountains that surrounded the savannahs and red roads where he lived, and he spent his younger years drawing them. While some of his work was inspired by his environment, he has an older brother, who also had an interest in art, and he would copy off his brother’s work. However, his brother never pursued art as a subject.
Whilst Ransford was at Rewa Primary School he entered in an art competition at the Wildlife Festival that saw him finishing third. He later attended the Annai Secondary School where he excelled in his art class and finished as the best graduating student after the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examination. His art teacher, Godfrey Alexander, Ransford said, was his inspiration when he applied at the E.R Burrowes School of Art.