Art exhibit aims to give Haitians something to smile about

“Tap-Tap: Celebrating the Art of Haiti,” will be on view through Sept. 5 at The Frost. FIU will also keep a registry of Haitian art in Florida.

At the Frost Art Museum’s new exhibit, a crowded tap-tap made of papier-mâché will transport you from a colorful country wedding to a schoolyard soccer game to Sunday morning mass. The curators of  “Tap-Tap: Celebrating the Art of Haiti,” hope these scenes of everyday life in Haiti will leave visitors feeling joyful and hopeful for the future of the island nation.

A typical form of public transportation in Haiti, the tap-tap is also one of the most colorful sights on the streets.

When planning “Tap-Tap,” curator Stephanie Chancy, who is also a professor of art and art history at FIU, reviewed the Frost’s databases and picked out the happiest pieces she could find. “Art helps to identify you as a people,” she said.

“I want people to leave here feeling happy and with an idea other than Haiti as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere,” said Chancy, who lived in Haiti for five years and whose parents are Haitian. “These pieces show abundance and life. This is what Haiti once was and this is what Haiti could be again.”

“It’s refreshing,” said Edouard Duval-Carrié, whose piece, Ayida Whedo, is part of the exhibition. “Yes, they are naïve paintings, but they show an idyllic kind of life and, hopefully, one that Haitians should aspire to and should be able to get back to whenever they get back on their feet after this major disaster.”

January’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake and weeks of aftershocks reduced thousands of Haitian paintings and sculptures to rubble. Private and museum collections have disappeared. And many Haitians are worried their cultural heritage is lost.

The Frost Art Museum owns more than 400 pieces of Haitian art. Carol Damian, director and chief curator of the museum, wants to give back to the island many works that have been lost.

“I contacted the Haitian culture institute right way,” Damian said. “I went down there with a file that was two inches thick. They had no idea how much we had. They were shocked and very, very grateful.”

To further help rebuild Haiti’s cultural patrimony, the museum is gathering information from collections all over Florida and the South to create a registry of Haitian art. The database will be managed by FIU. If anybody wants to know what happened to a Gerard Fortuné, Damian explained, they could start their search at the registry.

The Frost is also making plans to travel the exhibit to locations where people are not familiar with Haitian art. “I think it will give people an idea how special Haitian art is.”

Damian added, “This small exhibition is our way of giving Haitians something to hold on to and smile about when they most need the comfort we know art can bring.”

“Tap-Tap” will be on view at The Frost until Sept. 5.

— Sissi Aguila ’99, MA ’08