When Myrlande Constant (Earlier) was a teenager, she worked with her mother in a commercial wedding dress factory in Port-au-Prince. There she learned the tambour Embroidery technology, which uses a hook to make chain stitches with beads and sequins on fabric.
“By bringing her specialized skills in the fashion industry to the fore, Constant’s approach is drapo has broken gender barriers and elevated the creative labor overlooked by Haitian female factory workers to the empire of visual arts, ”says a statement of Fort Gansevoortwho will present the artist’s work next month in a solo exhibition entitled The spiritual world of Haiti.
Drapoor Drapo Vodou, Usually describes a style of embroidered flag with beads or sequins, but the term can also be used on a wide range of art forms such as painting, clothing, assemblies and sculptures. The pieces of Constant, for which she has been known since the 1990s, emphasize a variety of materials, colors, textures and all-over compositions full of ritual activity and symbols.
Haitian WodouAn African diasporic religion that developed between the 16th and 19th centuries merged Western and Central African traditions with Roman Catholicism. His Divine Creator, Bondye, is inaccessible to people, as spirits known as LWA‘S serve as intermediaries who can be invoked during ceremonies by having individuals, which makes communication with Bondye and transfer of advice, admonition or healing possible.
“Although she considers her art to be rooted in spirituality, Constant does not create her works for the purpose of display in Vodou temples, instead prefer to show them internationally in museums and galleries,” says a statement.
For Constant, making art is a resistance statement in the context of Haiti’s extreme political and economic instability. The current unrest of the nation was stimulated by protests against high fuel prices in 2018 and a requirement that the then President Jovenel Moïse will decrease. He refused to resign, but was murdered in 2021, causing him to escalate the tensions. A federation of gangten continues to clash with the government, which produces more protests, and perceive a developing humanitarian crisis.
“Marinette Bois Chèche” is the earliest work that will be shown in the exhibition and reflects the martyrdom of Vodou LWA Marinette. According to Folklore, Marinette was burned alive for fighting slavery and participated in a paradigm shift Bwa Kayiman ceremony in 1791, which produced it for 12 years Haitian Revolution.
The uprising, a rebellion of people made against French colonial rule, is unique in history because it led to the establishment of a state ruled by former prisoners and non-white people and free of slavery, though it still allowed forced labor . The title of Constant translates into something like ‘Marinette of the Dry Wood’, which evokes the ceremony that usually takes place around a bonfire and evokes a memorable period in the history of Haiti.
The artist drapo are dense beads and often much larger than their traditional counterparts. The most recent work that can be seen in the exhibition, “Devosyon Makaya” covers ten feet wide and lasted about three years to create. Constant describes her process as ‘painting with beads’, the transforming of dust and findings into extensive stories that thus evoke Hitian customs.
The spiritual world of Haiti Open on 27 February and will continue until April 26 in New York City.
