Bodden Town storyteller and social activist Twyla Vargas passed away on Sunday, 17 Jan. She was 71.
Vargas was well known in Bodden Town and among the wider community of Cayman for her work in the field of arts and her storytelling abilities. She published four books of Caymanian folk tales, and her stories regularly can be heard on ‘Caymanian Stories’, which airs on Saturday mornings on Radio Cayman.
Vargas was one of first people to receive the Order of the Cayman Islands after it was introduced in 2011.
Following 2004’s Hurricane Ivan, Vargas helped rehouse people made homeless in the storm when she worked with the Cayman Islands Recovery Operations Temporary Housing Office.
She was a prolific creator of arts and crafts, usually made from local materials, such as bags made from calabash, carvings from coconuts, bags from silver thatch, and cups, lamps and chairs from native woods.
Vargas often volunteered her time at the Bodden Town Primary School – now called the Theoline M. McCoy Primary School – where she taught traditional Caymanian arts and crafts.
For many years, Vargas’s letters were regularly published in the Cayman Compass, often calling for the betterment of her local district, Bodden Town, by highlighting issues about the state of the beach, or traffic, or litter, and urging more investment in the town that she was proud to call home.
Sculptures and carvings created by Vargas, and inspired by memories and stories told to her by her grandmother Nettie Levy, was featured in an exhibition at the Cayman Islands National Museum to mark International Museum Day in 2011.
Henry Muttoo, artistic director of the Cayman National Cultural Foundation, described Vargas as a stalwart of Cayman’s arts community.
“She was one part craft person, one part storyteller. She was one of those truly rounded artists,” he said. “She was very kind to everybody and very engaging.”
He said she first became involved with the CNCF when the organisation assisted her with a grant to publish her first book in 2008 – ‘Tempest in a Teapot – Stories from Granny’s Back Yard’. She was awarded another grant from the CNCF in 2010 to help her publish ‘Tell Me More – Stories from Granny’s Back Yard’.
She later published ‘Caymanian Stories’ and ‘Caymanian Stories from Granny’s Back Yard’, which among many other beloved characters, featured a donkey called Stricknine. A statue of the donkey had pride of place in the 2011 museum exhibit.
“She created a new brand of distinctly Caymanian folk characters. … They will live on,” Muttoo said.
In 2013, CNCF awarded her its Silver Star for Creativity for her work as a storyteller, he said.
“She was just an excellent storyteller. And she had a way with kids. A lot of her work was concentrated on kids,” he added.
“We are saddened by her passing and send our deepest condolences to her family.”
As well as her work in arts and culture, Vargas was also very interested in politics and social justice. In the run-up to the 2017 general election, she nominated the current health minister, Dwayne Seymour, for office and helped run his election campaign.
In a message to the Cayman Compass, Seymour said of Vargas, “She was quite a knowledgeable woman in every aspect. I grew up a few houses from her and it was at her house that I first watched a television.
“The paintings on my office wall were done by her, and I will miss her old Caymanian stories.
“Of course, she held no punches, but I still appreciated her advice. She will forever be missed. May her soul rest in peace.”
Norma McField, director of Radio Cayman, said the radio station plans to dedicate the entirety of this coming Saturday’s ‘Caymanian Stories’ broadcast to Vargas’s tales.
Her funeral service will be held at the Church of God in Bodden Town on Saturday, 23 Jan.
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