{"id":260372,"date":"2026-05-06T09:37:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T09:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/260372\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T09:37:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T09:37:17","slug":"haiti-history-identity-on-display-at-venice-biennale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/260372\/","title":{"rendered":"Haiti history, identity on display at Venice Biennale"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Edouard<\/p>\n

Edouard Duval-Carri\u00e9, a renowned Haitian-born artist based in Miami known for his vibrant, mixed-media works exploring Caribbean history and culture, will exhibit at the prestigious Venice Biennale. <\/p>\n

Carl Juste<\/p>\n

cjuste@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n

He calls it the \u201cmagic calabash.\u201d<\/p>\n

For years, visitors to Edouard Duval-Carri\u00e9\u2019s Little Haiti studio would find among his glittery and translucent historical figures and Vodou<\/a> gods a story the artist could not shrug. Tacked to a wall was a tattered Miami Herald newspaper clipping that told a familiar story: A group of Haitian migrants washing ashore in South Florida after a perilous journey at sea.<\/p>\n

Buried in the details about the overcrowded boat was the tale of a $3,500 calabash that someone carried to ward off capture by the U.S. Coast Guard.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCan you imagine?\u201d he said recently, recalling the story. \u201cThe most expensive item was not just a calabash but a magic calabash. Somebody\u2019s holding this thing, and they throw it at the Coast Guard so it can disappear?\u201d<\/p>\n

The extravagance of the hard shelled spherical fruit, which is often used as bowls in rural Haiti, first registered as \u201coutrageous\u201d to Duval-Carri\u00e9, who tried to reconcile the fact that the voyage cost $20,000 to launch, and the boat was packed with four times the number of people it was built to hold. But then, as it usually does for the Haiti-born artist and sculptor who often explores Haitian identity and spirituality in his work, something sparked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am going to make a painting of it,\u201d he recalled deciding.<\/p>\n

\"Edouard Edouard Duval-Carri\u00e9, a renowned Haiti-born artist based in Miami, was named Miami-Dade County’s artist-in-residence on November 07, 2024. Known for his vibrant, mixed-media works exploring Caribbean history and culture, Duval-Carri\u00e9’s innovative vision has earned him international acclaim, culminating in an invitation to exhibit at the prestigious Venice Biennale. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

The painting of a group of well-dressed, wry Vodou deities, known as lwas in Haitian Creole, arriving on a crowded boat, one carrying a calabash, would make up part of his first big exhibition, \u201cWho\u2019s Coming to Dinner to Miami,\u201d at P\u00e9rez Art Museum Miami. Now the installation \u2014 and the calabash that triggered it \u2014 is serving inspiration once more.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s become the foundation for one of the biggest moments of Duval-Carri\u00e9\u2019s already internationally acclaimed career: his exhibition at the 61st Venice Biennale,<\/a> the art world\u2019s premier international exhibition. Staged every two years since 1895, it includes dozens of national pavilions and large-scale group shows organized by a curator.<\/p>\n

It is an important moment for Miami and for the contemporary artist who in November 2024 became the second artist-in-residence in Miami-Dade Count<\/a>y. He is one of two Haiti-born artists invited to exhibit at the Biennale\u2019s premier event, which runs Saturday through Nov. 22 in Italy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaiti is all I am going to speak about,\u201d Duval-Carri\u00e9 gushed during a recent visit to his studio where he spoke about his Venice installation and the inspiration whose themes of migration, spirituality and identity still resonate today.<\/p>\n

\u2018In Minor Keys\u2019<\/p>\n

This marks Duval-Carri\u00e9\u2019s second appearance at the Biennale. His first appearance was 10 year ago when Haiti mounted a pavilion with support from the French government. This time, the artist doesn\u2019t have a country behind him and had to independently raise funds through a network that includes longtime supporter Oolite Arts.<\/a><\/p>\n

He will be exhibiting alongside another Haiti-born contemporary artist, Manuel Mathieu of Montreal and Paris, in the main exhibition. Their works will be among those of more than 100 artists and collectives who were handpicked by the late curator Koyo Kouoh<\/a> and her team.<\/p>\n

The first African woman to lead the Biennale, Kouoh died suddenly of liver cancer in May of last year at age 57. But before her death, she conceived the exhibition, \u201cIn Minor Keys,<\/a>\u201d and had outlined her vision<\/a> for its execution, and the artists she wanted to be featured. Duval-Carri\u00e9 was among them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very touched,\u201d Duval-Carri\u00e9 said about his selection, which he learned about when he received a call from Kouoh\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

His selection has generated excitement in South Florida where supporters and donors have collaborated to help him get to Venice. For those who follow Haitian art and culture closely, the inclusion of Duval-Carri\u00e9 Vodou Pantheon in the Biennale carries even more of a special meaning because he\u2019s bringing the ancestral spirits of Haiti to take their place in Venice, a city that understands the power of water, memory and transformation, said Kimberly Green, founder of Green Space Miami art gallery and longtime supporter of the country and its arts community.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis detailed and intricate, brightly colored work reminds the world that Haiti\u2019s spiritual brilliance travels, endures and reshapes every shore it touches,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"Edouard Haitian artist Edouard Duval-Carri\u00e9 at work in his Little Haiti studio. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

It was Kouoh\u2019s staff who ultimately selected the direction for Duval-Carri\u00e9\u2019s exhibition after he shared various examples of his work with them. Known for his vibrant, mixed-media works that explore Caribbean history and culture, his innovative vision has earned him international acclaim, and showings in some of the world\u2019s leading art galleries. Earlier this year his painting of Haitian revolutionary hero, Toussaint Louverture, riding a red horse into battle, was used as inspiration for Haiti\u2019s Winter Olympic team\u2019s uniform<\/a> at the Milan Cortina Winter Games.<\/p>\n

\"Handout Edouard Duval-Carri\u00e9’s \u201cToussaint Louverture\u201d painting inspired Stella Jean’s hand-painted uniforms for Haiti’s team at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

In the Perez Museum exhibit \u201cWho\u2019s Coming to Dinner in Miami\u201d that his Biennale show builds upon, the Vodou deities are headed to Miami, the gateway where the Haitian community, Duval-Carri\u00e9 said, is \u201ca force.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI imagined them as the people of Haiti, those gods, because that\u2019s what they are,\u201d he said. \u201cThey represent the people and all I had to do was to put them together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s daring, and it\u2019s human and there\u2019s a tragedy involved,\u201d Duval-Carri\u00e9 added, switching into Haitian-Creole to explain the painful decision Haitians have to make before embarking on such a perilous sea crossing and challenges they encounter on the other side of that decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are forced to leave their country and take what you can, including a magic calabash with you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cLa \u201cLa Travers\u00e9e (The Crossing), painted in 2015, depicts various Vodou spirits (Lwa) navigating the ocean in a boat, symbolizing the journey from Africa to the Caribbean. Edouard Duval-Carri\u00e9, a renowned Haitian-born artist became Miami-Dade County’s artist-in-residence on November 07, 2024. Known for his vibrant, mixed-media works exploring Caribbean history and culture, Duval-Carri\u00e9’s innovative vision has earned him international acclaim, culminating in an invitation to exhibit at the prestigious Venice Biennale. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

In his Biennale installation, they are part of a Vodou pantheon in which Duval-Carri\u00e9 explores more of Haitians\u2019 interrelationship with Africa, while expanding on the idea of Haiti\u2019s Pan-Africanism, forced migration and Haitian identity. There are many more gods he sculpted for the pantheon, and he has drawn from different corners of Africa to show its influence in Haiti\u2019s current Vodou beliefs. An element of technology has also been added with the construction of a vertical post, where with the aid of artificial intelligence it looks as if the spirits, painted on resin, are descending \u201clike confection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Followers of Vodou will recognize familiar figures among the spirits or lwas, such as Baron Samedi, the guardian of the cemetery; Erzueli, who represents different aspects of love, resistance and motherhood in her various feminine forms, and Damballa, represented by a serpent and associated with the origins of life. But there are also more obscure figures that he has added, discovered during his research and preparation for the Biennale.<\/p>\n

\u2018Haiti is like a synthesis of Africa\u2019<\/p>\n

The exhibit builds on a conversation Duval-Carri\u00e9 had with Kouoh two years before she was selected as curator for the Biennale.<\/p>\n

Duval-Carri\u00e9 told Kouoh about a show he wanted to do on the African continent tying Haiti and Africa together when she made an unexpected trip to his Little Haiti studio to thank him for a piece she had borrowed from Perez.<\/p>\n

During their meeting, Kouoh spoke of her own father who, prior to his death, envisioned closer ties between Haiti and Africa, where the African Union would play a greater role in Haiti. And, of course, the two spoke about art, a conversation Duval-Carri\u00e9 would use as the framework to tell the Haitian story in relation to its African beginnings, and her vision.<\/p>\n

\"Edouard Edouard Duval-Carri\u00e9 thanks guests during a fundraiser to support Edouard’s journey across the Atlantic from Little Haiti to the iconic Giardini of the Venice Biennale with support of Oolite Arts. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Kouoh wanted \u201cto see what Africa is in the imagination of people,\u201d he said, recalling his conversation with her about how Haiti was Pan African before the phrase was even coined.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere isn\u2019t a corner of Africa that isn\u2019t represented in Haiti,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s what I told Kouho; Haiti is like a synthesis of Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea animates not just in the installation but in a broader sense when one considers enslaved Africans from across the African continent were brought to Saint-Domingue by the French, and they came with distinct languages, religious practices and cultures that did not disappear after they won independence from France.<\/p>\n

Indeed, in works like \u201cThe First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe,\u201d scholars like Marlene Daut<\/a> traced how Haiti\u2019s complex and multi-ethnic Africans shaped the society.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took me a while to understand why that country is so complex,\u201d Duval-Carri\u00e9 said of his homeland. \u201cIt is because the French went and bought people from everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Edouard Edouard Duval-Carri\u00e9, known for his vibrant, mixed-media works exploring Caribbean history and culture, will show his work at the prestigious Venice Biennale. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

\u201cFor the revolution, the Vodou priests managed to rally everybody against slavery,\u201d he said, noting that divisions continue to percolate in Haitian society presently.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these tribes in Africa, they would have never met in Africa,\u201d he said. \u201cSomebody from the Congo would have met somebody from Benin? I don\u2019t think so. So I wanted to show that and explain to people that this situation in Haiti was very complex from the get-go.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an extraordinary history that no one understands,\u201d he said, and yet it begs the question: \u201cWhere do we come from?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Edouard Duval-Carri\u00e9, a renowned Haitian-born artist based in Miami known for his vibrant, mixed-media works exploring Caribbean history…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-260372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}