Search results | Digital Grinnell

Title: Chaos
Description: Unlike many of the blocks in this piece, this block is not tied to an individual story or person but rather attempts to show an idea. The block is centered around an image of a head both human and alien, evoking emotions such as pain, fear, and sadness. These are the emotions associated with colonialism and violence, of oppression and disease, and were likely felt by Haitians at the time of the revolution. While this musical being appears cry and mourn, it also inspires a sense of power and awe in the viewer, similar to the feeling of power that many Haitians were beginning to sense as the revolution took hold of Haiti. This block, while more abstract than others, contributes to the abolitionist story by recognizing the role of terror and chaos, while representing the relationship between pain and strength, fear and power.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25503

Title: Currency
Description: The story of Haiti since 1492, in broad strokes, is the story of export-oriented exploitation and the politics that come with that commerce. The extinction of native peoples due to hard labor, and the clearing of the land to produce sugar and other export crops, is marked by the totem in the lower-left corner of this block. Coins also contribute historical significance to this block, serving as markers for the economic interests of various global powers in this small nation and the interaction of Haiti’s history with neighbors in the New World. In some cases, these former colonies started their revolutions with support from Haiti. Currency also captures historical events, people, and cultural relations between nations. Jean-Pierre Boyer, Charlemagne Peralte, and monarchs of France are displayed. Some coins have specific years or are from periods of historical significance to the development of Haiti.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25507

Title: Fragments
Description: This block is comprised of a document listing registered soldiers of the First Regiment of Iowa Volunteers, a predominately black enlistment fighting for the Union during the Civil War. Scattered around the names of enlisted men, the artist has included pieces of metallic jewellery, linking the First Regiment of Iowa Volunteers to the Haitian Revolution. In this piece, the institution of slavery is represented by fragments of broken earrings, bracelets, and necklaces. The artist aimed to capture the harsh brutality of the struggle against slavery and racism, experienced by both Haitian revolutionaries in 1791 and also by members of the First Regiment of Iowa Volunteers in 1863. At the same time, some objects (such as the metallic pencil sharpener) are intended to portray the idea that the world is changeable and can be made better, a homage to the sacrifices made by the enlisted men of the First Regiment. This block parallels the struggle experienced in Haiti with the struggle experienced in the United States, and aims to show the relevancy and tangibility of these events even in today’s world. While the struggles of Haiti and the United States are very different, similarities between the two stories show the interconnectedness of history.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25513

Title: Gran Bwa
Description: This block was created to represent the environmental turmoil experienced by Haiti since the introduction of sugarcane to the island over 400 years ago. The images in this block are layered in resin, with some images appearing farther from the viewer than others. The layers progress in relation to time, representing different stages of the Haitian environment. The bottom layer of the block is adorned with flowers, referencing the botanical beauty that could be witnessed on the island of Hispaniola before the plantation system took root. Introduction of sugarcane to the island is represented by the Gran Bwa veve, a religious symbol representing the loa Gran Bwa, a Vodou loa responsible for the health of herbs, trees, and other inhabitants of the land. In this block, the artists have chosen to include the Gran Bwa veve to represent an opposing force to the influx of sugarcane. After introducing the two opposing forces, the artists added images of malignant bacteria on the bottom left to symbolize the destruction that sugarcane caused on the island. The bacteria also represents the infectious nature of both sugarcane and plantation slavery, calling attention to how both quickly overtook the island and its people.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25511

Title: Growing Up
Description: In this block, the artists have chosen to call attention to the experiences of children during the Haitian Revolution. Two of of Toussaint L'Ouverture’s sons, named Isaac and Saint-Jean, are featured prominently in this piece. Growing up with a famous and powerful father, these children enjoyed many more luxuries than most Haitian children, for the two boys were fortunate enough to be sent to France in 1797 to receive education in foreign languages and the arts. However, even relocation to Europe did not save the boys from meeting the same ill fate which met the other nine of L’Ouverture’s children, many of whom died before their father. Above the portraits of the L’Ouverture sons, the artists have included a depiction of children harvesting sugar cane in a pre-revolution Haiti. These children were exploited under the relentless control of plantation owners, seen here in suit jackets and straw hats, who robbed children of their childhood, education, families, and often their lives.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25510

Title: Invitation
Description: This block emerged from an invitation to participate in a campus-wide reflection on race, revolution, and artist’s place in our troubled social context. The ominous and powerful insect, the central image in this piece, is based on Alejo Carpentier's magical realist novel on the Haitian revolution, The Kingdom of this World. Is the insect colonialism? The revolution? It confronts the viewer with questions: Why don’t we know our own history, and why are we so afraid to teach it? In the same way that the insect confronts the viewer in this piece, we must confront our history and the ways in which it impacts our lives today. Although the insect hovers over us, threatening to destroy our memories, histories, and futures, we continue to coexist with it, allowing it to grow and respond to our changing conditions. The layering, movement, and sedimentation of the composition is meant to evoke the oceans, currents, and the troubling depths of race as “natural” yet at the same time constructed, still powerful and unsettling. It is a sea constantly troubled, whether we are aware or not. This block, and this installation as a whole, acts as an invitation to calmly evaluate ourselves in relation to our histories and education, without drowning in the waves.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25500

Title: Kochon Kréyol
Description: At the center of this block, a cut-out photograph of a domestic pig is superimposed over a woodcut print showing pigs in a farmhouse pen, framed by the words “Kochon Kréyol” and “Zami Mwen” which mean “creole pig” and “good friend” in Creole. The pig imagery is surrounded by leaves, buttons, sequins, and red flower petals. The petals, cut into droplets, resemble drops of blood and call to mind the animal sacrifice often performed in Haitian Vodou ritual. Goats, pigs, chickens, and bulls are among the animals commonly sacrificed in the ritual, the role of which is to emphasize the importance of blood and flesh, the sources of life-force and vigor in Vodou tradition. Although the domesticated pig is commonly slaughtered either for ritual or food, the woodcut honors the pig’s sacrifices by addressing it as a good friend in the Haitian language, exemplifying the creole appreciation for all living beings.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25517

Title: The Storm
Description: The center image of this block, placed on the very bottom of the mold so as to appear farthest from the viewer, depicts the capital city of Port-au-Prince after the magnitude 3.1 hurricane which devastated the island in 2010. In this piece, the city is divided by a trail of nails; the buildings on the left side of the nails had received government funding for repair and the buildings on the right did not. The national poverty that necessitated this divide is one of the many ailments that plague formerly colonized nations; either you submit to imperial rule, or suffer economic consequences so often brushed aside as “third world problems.” In popular images of Port-au-Prince the right side of this picture is often cut out, eliminating the catastrophe from contemporary memory and thereby erasing the physical and emotional trauma caused by the disaster. The left side of this block depicts an ideal Haiti. A land warmed and nurtured by bright sunshine, this Haiti is known for its brightly colored houses and shell-speckled beaches, represented here with colorful sequins, marbles, and sea glass. The set of keys, paired with reflective shapes evocative of windows, call to mind a welcoming community where every family has a home. The right side of the block, however, represents the true Haiti. Economic class seems fixed enough to be nailed down. The black and amber stones represent Haiti’s crippling dependance on oil and external revenue, and the true Haiti is seen here still entangled in the net of poverty and colonialism. While this Haiti may seem grim, it is comprised of tools which can be used to build a brighter future. Buttons, screws, nails, and netting may look like detritus to some, but can transform into implements with which to achieve a more idyllic Haiti.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25514

Title: Women of the Revolution
Description: The story of the Haitian Revolution is steered by powerful characters such as Toussaint L'Ouverture, Henri Christophe, and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, military commanders and monarchs who facilitated the Haitian independence movement during the French Revolution. However, these men were not the only people involved in the dramatic uprising. Haitian women, too, played a large role in the rebellion, and this block honors the female freedom fighters who often go unnoticed in modern tellings of the story. In the lower center of the block the artist has placed a Haitian ten gourd banknote, featuring sergeant and lieutenant Sanité Bélair who fought bravely under the command of Toussaint LOuverture. To her left is a depiction of Marie-Jeanne Lamartiniére, a Haitian soldier who fought in male uniform and is said to have greatly boosted the spirits of her male counterparts with her invigorating bravery. On the right hand side of the block we see an image of Cécile Fatiman, a mambo (Vodou priestess) said to have participated in the Vodou ritual at Bwa Kayiman, a ceremony during which the first slave insurrection was planned. Although these women, and others like them, have not made it into many history books, this block honors the sacrifices they made for the freedom of their people and country.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25518