About
Statement
It is said that the body is a temple. The Haitian body, however, has long been viewed by non-Haitian eyes as a tool to be exploited, an object to be utilized, a surface to be abused, and tragedy to be pitied. As a non-Haitian artist creating work in a Haitian environment, my goal through my recent art is to recontextualize how the Haitian body is viewed in relationship to the spiritual and cultural histories that it incarnates. By using a variety of different kinds of Haitian bodies as my subjects, I have created a series of works that express the balance of divinity, regality, and humanity which these bodies carry into the world. These works represent a visual interrogation of how we can see more than the body when we look upon another person and experience the universal truths that connect us to one another across racial, ethnic, and cultural boundaries. These works are less about the bodies themselves, and more about the universes that the individuals in the paintings embody.
The source of this visual exploration comes from the spiritual traditions of Haiti itself which puts great emphasis on the body as a bridge to the supernatural world. Through our bodies we are able to get in contact with different levels of spiritual beings that influence the natural world and our lived realities in unseen ways. Through Haitian traditions of vodou, these spiritual forces are manifested physically through possession of the bodies that offer themselves as vehicles and vessels. Through the influence of colonial Christianity, both in Catholicism and Pentecostalism the relationship between the body and the spirit in Haiti has been reinterpreted but not erased. My work explores the balances between these spiritual realities in the contemporary lives of my Haitian peers. The sequins used in the backgrounds of my compositions are inspired by the extravagant use of sequins and beads in traditional vodou drapo or flags, that are intended to help draw bodies of practitioners into trance-like encounters with the spirits and direct possession. The subjects of my paintings pose in positions reminiscent of Catholic iconography of saints and renaissance era portraiture. I have also drawn inspiration from the birds of Haiti that once found sanctuary on the island as an oasis of natural beauty where they were able to thrive. Their presence in the work serves to represent freedom, resilience, and adaptation to harsh environments. Through this marriage of different techniques and symbols, the Haitian bodies themselves emerge as representations of refuge, security, independence and sovereignty.