The medias are full of clichés, exacerbated by the January 12th 2010, earthquake, which insinuate that Haiti is “the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.” Nothing is farther to reality.
In fact, despite the serial coups d’état, the little chiefs’ rivalries and fiefs, the images of poverty, the permanent crises, the negligence and the administrative mediocrity of the government, often ruled by corrupt, unconcerned and repressive elements, Haiti is also the nation that has risked the fury of Spain to help the independentist freedom fighters Sebastian Francisco de Miranda (1806) et Simón Bolívar (1816), two heroes of Latin-American independence.
She is not only the only nation of formers enslaved who conquered their freedom by the force of arms and their strategic genius, but also the country that opened its doors to enslaved of all over the world, particularly to the African-Americans who were fighting for their liberation; Haiti is the country defender of Greece’s independence and founding member of the United Nations.
Compared to other countries, Haiti is the country that has the most number, per capita, of writers, poets, storytellers, musicians, painters, and artists in general, and also one of the rare countries in the world to develop a language and culture independent from the Western epistemic models.
The series of painting exhibits that has taken place, since 2011, in Boston, Cambridge, Newton, Canton, West-Roxbury, etc., under the title “When Our Brushes Shook,” is part of the effort to display this other face of Haiti. Organized by the Assembly of Haitian Artists in Massachusetts, in collaboration with local organizations such as the City of Boston, Cambridge Health Alliance, City of Cambridge, Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (MSPP), Haitian Mental Health Network, Greater Brockton Society for Poetry and the Arts (GBSPA), and the Le réseau des artistes-peintres de Jacmel, the series of exhibits hopes to help promote the positive image of Haiti and the articulation of a different, constructive narrative about it.
It’s in the same light that the Haitian Artists Assembly of Massachusetts, in collaboration with Unicef Funds for Haiti, and Massport Authority has helped organize the up-coming exhibit titled “Haitian Colors in Transit” at the Logan International Airport, in Massachusetts, to support, as the event’s introductory brochure says, “the arts in Haiti and showcase the artists’ resilience… [their] renewed aspirations, new dreams, new horizons and new styles…” This initiative is also sponsored by the Ansara Family Funds, the Boston Foundation, the Haitian Consulate in Boston, the Brockton Arts Inc, and the City of Boston.
The exhibit at the Logan International Airport will take place from January 2013 to March 2013, at the Delta Terminal.
In complement to the exhibit and under the theme “Another Face of Haiti,” the publishing house Trilingual Press, and the Haitian Artists Assembly of Massachusetts, will present on Friday January 11th 2013, in commemoration of the quake’s third year anniversary, a great cultural event that will include multiple reading of new-released books by a panoply of excellent writers.
The program will include the following authors and artists:
Book-release presentation
Platon an kreyòl ayisyen : yon liv Nicole Titus / Plato in Haitian Creole: A book by Nicole Titus
Frantz Leconte sur René Depestre
Kèk mo sou liv Doumafis Lafontan an / A few words on Doumafis Lafontan’s book