In February 2019, I had the opportunity to travel to Haiti on an arts and culture exchange experience hosted by Lee Rainboth, director of the Jacmel Arts Center. I spent a total of eight days there enjoying the Caribbean weather and getting to know many artists @santdajakmel. My mission was not only to enjoy myself and learn about the culture, but also to find objects, bring them back with me and create a new series of #ahsumblah inspired by the trip.
With my work being #foundobjects based, I never know exactly what I might find, but heading into this experience I at least knew what I wanted to say. I wanted the new series to signify Haiti’s proud yet turbulent history, which I think I accomplished, particularly with this first piece. I’ll explain how acquired each of these objects, but first a little background on Haiti.
You probably didn’t hear much about the Haitian insurrection in history class. It began in 1791 when self-liberated slaves revolted against their French colonial oppressors. Haiti would eventually gain its independence in 1804, becoming the first free black republic. Toussaint Louverture, a former slave and hero of the revolution emerged as the first president of this new sovereign nation. Of the Forty-five Haitian presidents since then, twenty-three have been overthrown, two were assassinated, one was executed and one committed suicide.
Haiti has had a troubled road all it’s life, not only because of political corruption and instability, but also because of environmental and health issues, cholera outbreaks brought on by lack of sanitation, food insecurity brought on by overpopulation, deforestation and other natural disasters including the catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 2010 that killed thousands.
Ten years later the scars from that tragic event are still visible in many places. Swipe to image 6 and 7 to see one example and two friends I made at the JAC. Tektek and Meger Samedi are freaking hilarious, and even though they are no strangers to a life of struggle, they are always smiling and laughing.
One day they saw me snooping around this large, mostly abandoned building across from the arts center. Rather than shoo me away, they were kind enough to show me the inside and give me a tour. It turned out to be the former home of Boucard & Co. Coffee, built in the early 1800’s. The facility is now inoperable since the earthquake pretty much destroyed it. This is where I found the tile piece and the lock.
Meger actually worked there when he was a kid. And to my surprise the antiquated machinery was mostly in tact. Amongst the rubble there were gears and pulleys and drawers and trays issuing in all directions. Once upon a time they processed coffee beans here, packaged them and shipped across the water. Hopefully someday this site will be acquired by the JAC and fixed up so they can expand their creative mission.
This arrangement wouldn’t be complete however without the third and final object, the old rusty key, which we stumbled upon on a different day. I was walking along a bustling street in Jacmel with fellow American Aubrey Barnes a.k.a. @poeticaubs, the only other person on the trip, Lamitie, manager of the JAC, and an abstract painter by the name of Jadrix Louis (image 9).
Jadrix was the person that I connected with most during my visit and the only one to spot the key randomly laying in the gutter. Jadrix was aware of my passion for #foundobjects because we talked a lot about it, and although he also collected objects for his art, he gave me the key as a show of friendship without a moment’s thought. I’ll never forget when he suddenly bent down to pick it up and then handed it to me without breaking stride. It was such a selfless act, to hand over such an amazing find. The first piece of my Haitian series literally came together in that perfect moment. I will always treasure these memories and these objects.
*If you made it all the way to the end of this, message “unlocked & free” for a free collage.
