Important artistic communities threatened with disappearance in Haiti

Weakened by insecurity, artists abandon their workshops to settle elsewhere in the capital or in the provinces, while others categorically leave the country

Artistic communities, established in inaccessible areas due to the violence of armed gangs in the district of Port-au-Prince, face significant difficulties and are threatened with disappearance.

Dozens of artists’ studios in Noailles, Grand-Rue, Carrefour and Bel Air are systematically targeted, ransacked or burned during gang attacks.

Most of the victim artists are among the best of their generation, and their work exhibited in Haiti and around the world represents the artistic genius of the country.

In 2023, the workshops of Lionel Saint Éloi and Ricardo Valcin in Carrefour-Feuilles are touched.

Sculpture de Ricardo Valcin. | © Ricardo Valcin

The previous year, in 2022, those of the Noailles artists suffered a fire in Croix-des-Bouquets.

View of part of the Noailles workshops burned in 2022. | © Jean Eddy Remy

In 2020, Grand-Rue artists, including Frantz “Guyodo” Jacques and several others, saw a large part of their collections disappear in the flames.

In October 2022, the artistic village of Noailles was the scene of nearly four armed attacks, the result of a conflict between the gangs of Vitelhomme and 400 Mawozo.

As a result of these events, more than twenty houses and artists’ studios were reduced to ashes, subsequently leading to the desertion of the village.

The artist and sculptor Ricardo Valcin, living in Carrefour-Feuilles, reveals having lost a large quantity of works during gang attack in September last year.

The professional resided near Impasse Saint Éloi, named after the versatile artist Lionel Saint Éloi, whose works are present in the permanent collections of the Waterloo Museum and the Art Center.

His workshop also suffered a fire.

Valcin only managed to recover the parts already sold, but not yet delivered to buyers.

“After moving these pieces to Delmas 33 and returning to Carrefour-Feuilles, my works were nowhere to be found. Some were destroyed or disappeared,” laments Ricardo Valcin.

Interviewed by AyiboPost, artists from targeted communities expressed concern for creations left in areas under gang control.

After moving these pieces to Delmas 33 and returning to Carrefour-Feuilles, my works were nowhere to be found. Some have been destroyed or disappeared.

– Ricardo Valcin

André Eugène declares that he has no news of the 700 works (sculptures, paintings, etc.) stored in his workshop, shared with other artists on the Grand-Rue.

The majority of these works date from 1998, the year when Eugène started recycling.

Celeur Jean Hérard, emblematic figure of Atis Rezistans, a collective of artists based on the Grand-Rue, has seen his sculptures exhibited at renowned events such as the 54th Venice Biennale and the Grand Palais in Paris.

Fearing that his works would be burned, Celeur had to transfer them to Thomassaint.

“The idea of painting is unbearable for me, because I fear that if I start working and my place of residence becomes a lost territory, everything will be destroyed by fire,” Hérard confides to AyiboPost. “I prefer to leave the paintings as they are. I refuse to devote all my energy to a creation that risks being burned and lost,” he decides.

Work of the artist Ricardo Valcin in Carrefour-Feuilles. | © Ricardo Valcin

The violence is forcing artists to abandon their studios, leaving behind tens of thousands of works of art, to resettle in other districts of the capital or even in other regions of the country.

Some choose emigration, a decision endangering artistic communities.

André Eugène, founding member of the Atis Rezistans community, found refuge in Les Cayes with his family, fleeing the violence of the armed gangs which reign on the Grand-Rue.

The artist left the area after a group of 40 armed individuals entered his home. They did not attack him, contenting themselves with occupying the courtyard, while outside, another group fired at the police tank parked a few kilometers from his home.

“After this incident, I said to myself, I have to go. I didn’t take anything. Not even my toothbrush. My entire collection remained at the Grand-Rue,” recounts André Eugène to AyiboPost.

Currently, the artist is forced to use materials recovered from his environment in Les Cayes, to continue his creation.

A deserted street in Bel Air due to violence from armed gangs erecting barricades in the area.

Atis Rezistans emerged in the heart of Grand-Rue on Boulevard Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

This place, the final resting place for car wrecks, has been transformed into a dump for end-of-life vehicles, serving as a demolition workshop for mechanics and spare parts dealers.

The community Art of Resistance transformed the place into a vast open-air gallery.

Artists collect various materials to design impressive works and installations, exhibited along the boulevard. They offer artistic creation (sculptures, paintings, installations, etc.) that are bold, aggressive and fascinating through the mastery of heterogeneous materials during assemblages.

Works from the “Atis rezistans” workshop in the heart of downtown, in Port-au-Prince, in 2020. | © AyiboPost

In 2022, despite the deterioration of the security climate and their working conditions, the Atis Rezistans group won the Exhibition of the Year prize at Documenta Fifteen, awarded by the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) of the German region for a remarkable installation inside the Saint-Kunigundis church.

Located in the heart of the territory of 400 Mawozo, the artistic village of Noailles is recognized as one of the main artistic centers of the Caribbean.

Its artisans shape and create iron works cut from old metal barrels.

This tradition dates back to the 18^e century when Noailles was a sugar settlement and required the know-how of blacksmiths.

There is one of the oldest artists’ workshops, the Bruno Brothers forge, which has existed since 1802, making Noailles one of the oldest artistic villages in the Caribbean.

The artistic village of Noailles has nearly 500 artists and craftsmen out of a population of around 2,000 inhabitants, according to a document written by the Association of Artists and Craftsmen of Croix-des-Bouquets (ADAAC).

In 2019, the Ministry of Culture included the practice of cutting iron in the national inventory of intangible cultural heritage.

Cut iron works by artists from the Noailles Artistic Village exhibited during the first edition of the “Solidarité Noailles” fair at the El Rancho Hotel in Pétion-Ville, on May 17 and 18, 2022.| © AyiboPost

The artistic village began in 1953. Dewitt Peters, one of the founders of the Art Center, discovered the sculptor Georges Liautaud, known for his cut iron crosses decorating tombs. Peters encouraged Liautaud to create new pieces from this metal. The sculptor gathers around him other apprentices, who will later become renowned artists.

The village faces immense difficulties. Many artists left it to take refuge in the areas around Croix-des-Bouquets.

“When the prisoners escaped from Croix-des-Bouquets prison at the beginning of March, the situation was untenable for the artists who had taken refuge in the surrounding areas,” says artist Jean Eddy Rémy, president of ADAAC.

The atmosphere in Noailles is extremely precarious and likely to degenerate at any moment.

“In the event of a nighttime emergency, we are helpless. There are no health centers. Armed individuals roam the streets day and night on motorcycles. We are subject to their authority,” declares Jean Eddy Rémy.

The sculptor observes that the situation affects the activity of the village’s artists, who no longer practice in the studio. They only go there when they have craft orders to fulfill. Creation is at half mast. The enthusiasm is no longer, according to Rémy.

Artists who have left the area must pay to recover the remaining pieces in their workshops, provided they have not been set on fire, and pay again to leave Noailles with these pieces.

Cut iron works by artists from the Noailles Artistic Village.

Orders, increasingly rare, greatly weaken the artists and craftsmen of Noailles.

In the past, the trade in cut iron generated significant profits for artists and craftsmen, underlines the sculptor Jean Eddy Rémy.

Some workshops could make a monthly profit of between 500 and 1000 dollars, while those specializing in cutting barrels could collect up to 5000 gourdes in a day.

In addition, several artists have lost their lives in Noailles in recent years.

One of them was killed on his “motorcycle in Tabarre and a young colleague, while crossing the street, found himself caught in an exchange of fire between the police and the gangs… Others left the country”, laments the artist Rémy.

Participants in the first edition of the “Solidarité Noailles” fair organized at the Hotel El Rancho on May 17 and 18, 2022. | © AyiboPost

Located about fifteen kilometers from Noailles, Bel Air perpetuates a rich tradition in the field of textile crafts.

The abundance of Vodou temples has stimulated craftsmen to design “vodou drapo” and various objects of worship intended to beautify these sacred places.

These artisans handle textiles, boutèy bizango, drapo vodou… These objects of worship oscillate between their sacred dimension and their artistic/profane dimension.

Partly thanks to the impetus given by the sculptor Pierrot Barra and his wife Marie Cassaise in the 1990s, Bel Air stood out for its textile craftsmanship, which has become the distinctive sign of its creators and artists.

Barra, a Vodou priest, began by making ceremonial flags for the hounfor.

Subsequently, he diversified his works by creating more elaborate assemblages with dolls, fabrics, glass, sequins, etc.

A view of BelArt, a major cultural center in Bel Air dysfunctional due to gang violence in the neighborhood. | © Marie-Gérald Morilus

Pierrot Barra’s works were highly appreciated by museums.

The book by the American academic Donald J. Consentino, “Vodou Things: The art of Pierrot Barra and Marie Cassaise”, constitutes valuable documentation on the work of these two arts these

According to Marie-Gérald Morilus, a textile artist from Bel Air specializing in the making of vodou drapo and beading, creators in the area are faced with a shortage of materials.

In addition, potential buyers cannot visit their workshops and the incessant shooting generates constant stress which hinders creation.

“It’s unbearable,” exclaims Morilus. You can barely start working when a cry of “Men cha” forces you to take cover, because they are shooting at everything that moves.”

An interior view of the Bel Air Cultural Center, dysfunctional due to gang violence in the neighborhood. | © Marie-Gérald Morilus

Some artists still live in Bel Air.

However, others, like Morilus, see the future outside of this neighborhood.

“The priority, in my opinion, is to allow artists to leave Bel Air to find another place where they can continue to create. It is impossible to create in this condition,” Morilus poses.

The four main artistic communities in the West, namely the artistic village of Noailles in Croix-des-Bouquets, Atis Rezistans on Grand-Rue, the textile and drapo vodou creators in Bel Air, as well as the stone sculptors of la Rivière-Froide in Carrefour, redefine reality and revolutionize the discourse of visual arts in Haiti thanks to their audacity and their unique aesthetic.

Their establishment was stimulated by the tourism boom of the 1940s and the New Deal policy in the United States.

These collectives have become, over time, centers of intense artistic activity, devoting themselves almost exclusively to their own artistic practice. Located in working-class neighborhoods, these artistic communities reinvent social ties within their community.

Cracked ceramics bear witness to the ransacking of the house of the artist Ricardo Valcin in Carrefour-Feuilles. They wobble, damaged, unable to stand up straight. | © Ricardo Valcin

The sculptor Jean Eddy Rémy, accompanied by other artists and artisans from Noailles, founded ADAAC, which engages in social projects such as psychosocial support programs and the relocation of families victims of violence.

Initiatives have also multiplied on the Grand-Rue side.

André Eugène, Celeur Jean Hérard and Guyodo from Atis Rezistans founded Timoun Rezistans and Timoun Klere, where children come together in a workshop to create. In 2016, artist Lesly Pierre Paul established the “New Vision Art School” with the aim of protecting children from armed gang violence.

In 2017, these children’s works were exhibited in Argentina at Universo Art Kids and in Chicago at This is it Gallery.

However, insecurity continues to weaken these communities.

“Culture is the calling card of this country,” says Allenby Augustin, Executive Director of the Art Center.

Faced with the disappearance of these communities of artists: Noailles, Rivière-Froide, Bel Air or Grand-Rue, “we must question the extent of the work necessary to reconstitute them.”

The Art Center favored the appearance of the “naïve” movement between 1946 and 1950, giving birth to a multitude of internationally renowned artists.

Today, despite a discreet presence due to insecurity, the Center holds a collection of more than 5,000 works of art and 3,000 archives, constituting a unique heritage in the visual arts in Haiti.

Other public institutions holding important collections, such as the National Bureau of Ethnology and the Museum of the Haitian National Pantheon (MUPANAH), are also threatened by armed gang violence.

According to the director, endangered artist communities are an integral part of “the cultural identity of Port-au-Prince and the country”.

Read also: The slow agony of MUPANAH

As the country’s leading visual arts institution, the Art Center has supported and supported artists for 80 years.

“It is essential for the Center to provide assistance to these communities,” concludes Augustin.

This should also be a priority for policymakers.

Par Ervenshy Hugo Jean-Louis

Cover image: Participants in the first edition of the “Solidarité Noailles” fair at the Hotel El Rancho on May 17 and 18, 2022. | © AyiboPost

Watch this AyiboPost report published in 2022 on the alarming situation of artists in Noailles due to insecurity: