DRACONIAN SWITCH [2008]



The notion came to me while I was on a flight to St Petersburg, Florida. I was talking to colleague Marlon Darbeau about life in advertising when I realised that young designers weren't having nearly as much fun as I did when I started in the field. So I created a magazine that would become a playground for a new generation of artists, writers and designers working in advertising in Trinidad and Tobago. "Personal work is a powerful part of the creative process," I always say. "The magazine is a way of bringing people in the industry together to do projects."

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“Draconian Switch is very much a designer’s publication, with the style of the presentation of the art and commentary changing not just from issue to issue but often from page to page. It’s art, interpreting art and framing words about art and the artistic impulse.”

(The best local arts magazine you’ve never seen by Mark Lyndersay http://www.lyndersaydigital.com/bd/files/BitDepth691.html). 

Based online www.artzpub.com the magazine is virtually staffed by a voluntary creative collective of 15 people – comprised of writers, photographers, designers, artists and even a sound engineer (?!)– who reside in Trinidad and Tobago. Apart from Richard Rawlins, chief among these creatives are Dancer/Choreographer Dave Williams, Designer/Installation Artist Marlon Darbeau, Writer/Editor Darryn Boodan, Writer Tracy Hutchings, Writer/Producer Indra Ramcharan and the site’s maintenance operator Web Designer, Anderson Mitchell. Begun in May 2008 Draconian Switch is a no-holds-barred, unfettered playground for creative professionals working in Trinidad and Tobago’s advertising industry. One year and some months in the magazine has featured eight artists, was a curatorial partner in the Caribbean’s first ever Erotic Art Week, (held in Trinidad and Tobago and featured in issue 8.), now supports a blog www.artzpub.blogspot.com aimed at the promotion and documentation of the Trinidad and Tobago emerging contemporary art scene, and is a creative partner in the Alice Yard www.aliceyard.blogspot.com art space initiative.


Draconian Switch’s unstated but understood mission statement is to create exposure and provide opportunity. Artzpub – the home site for the magazine – actually houses a number of “bonus books” created by different writers and designers. The bonus books have built on the magazine’s initial desire to feature the collaboration of five artists and one designer/artist, to play an important role in documenting all things contemporary arts. 

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