Little Haiti’s new cultural center hosts a compelling exhibit of Caribbean art

Haitian artist André Eugéne’s sculptures in the exhibition “Global Caribbean” are made from old rubber tires. They are small, mythical creatures or “fetish effigies” -- familiar representations in Haitian art -- otherworldly and also demonic. The material, too, is representative. Much of that country’s and the Caribbean’s art is fashioned from the commercial world’s discards, an allusion to what the nations themselves have been made from since their colonial days.

The carefully chosen works in this superb show reflect the Caribbean reality and mythology, the dark and the light, the troubled past, present, and future, and the incredible vibrancy of the artistic output from a region that starts at the tip of Florida and ends on the shores of South America.

After January 12, that reality took on new meaning. The earthquake that ravaged Haiti gives a new poignancy and power to this art, from 23 of the Caribbean’s top artists, being shown in a gleaming new space in the magnificent new Little Haiti Cultural Center.

The image of sunny isles and the ultimate tropical tourist escape has always clashed with the darker one, of brutal dictatorships, occupations, and stark social inequalities. While recent photos and stories of unimaginable destruction overwhelm our senses, this beautiful show seeks to address these contradictions.

Organized and curated by prominent Haitian artist and Miami resident Edouard Duval-Carrié, “Global Caribbean” deals with the lives and histories of African descendants of the region, as well as with the capriciousness of the very ground itself. In the show’s catalogue -- published well before the earthquake -- Duval-Carrié wrote: “A definite constant in the region is the wrath of mother nature…. Along with the damage wrought by the weather, colonialization, slavery and plantation economies could also be seen as agents of destruction in the region.”

So Creole Portrait II: A Collection and Singular & Scarce Creole Portrait Heads to Perpetuate the Memory of the WOMAN of Egypt ESTATE in Jamaica, lithographs from Barbados native Joscelyn Gardner, underscores some of the traumatic origins of Caribbean nations. A centerpiece of black-braided hair is surrounded by images of instruments used to torture slaves.

The everyday violence of today’s Caribbean world is inescapable in the work of Dominican artist Jorge Piñeda with Afro-Fight -- Issue III, its faceless fighter in army fatigues butting against the wall; as well as in Hew Locke’s Kingdom of the Blind, three huge sculptures pieced together with plastic chains, dinosaurs, and guns.

But Kingdom also highlights what this show succeeds in relating -- that in the face of almost insurmountable odds, artistic expression can heal and even bring joy into relentlessly joyless lives. While these “blind” sculptures can look devilish, they also include a profusion of colorful plastic flowers and beads. Life goes on, they seem to say, especially through art.

Jamaican-born Arthur Simms crafted another one of the outstanding sculptures in the exhibition, again made from the detritus of the commercial world: bottles, rope, scrap metal, skateboards, a birdcage, and a bike. While playful, the title aims to dampen the spirit a bit: Caged Bottle.

No country has been more traumatized in the Western Hemisphere than Haiti, and viewing this show in the wake of the earthquake can’t help but color the picture even more darkly.

Sitting on a baroque chair in his expansive studio, Duval-Carrié says that art, music, and dance have always sustained life in Haiti, and that it will once again as the country struggles to recover. But it won’t be easy, says the Port-au-Prince native, looking tired but still filled with humor. His family there has survived, as it appears did artist André Eugéne, a founder of the Grand Rue art movement. But it also appears that much of Haiti’s cultural history, and visual arts, have disappeared -- maybe forever -- in the rubble of the capital city and the seaside town of Jacmel.

Duval-Carrié believes that the Little Haiti Cultural Center, adjacent to his studio, and the Haitian Cultural Arts Alliance that he heads, will have to play a major role in documenting and preserving that culture.

In an office connected to his studio, some of that documentation has taken place already -- the alliance has a catalogue of books, original documents, and maps. The new cultural center is now home to four Afro-Caribbean dance troupes, as well as an impressive black box theater that will host musical groups and film screenings from the region.

But without Duval-Carrié himself, much of this would not exist. Although the City of Miami initially funded the center and now staffs it, Duval-Carrié, long active among the Caribbean diaspora in Miami and abroad, brought in the French government to sponsor “Global Caribbean,” along with promises of future exhibits and exchanges. Because of its historic (and difficult) ties to the Caribbean, France has created a cultural outreach arm, “Caraïbes en créations,” to fund such projects, and Duval-Carrié lobbied for Miami to be a focal point of this initiative.

While he is currently active in various relief efforts, Duval-Carrié says he wants to put most of his time and energy into raising money and awareness of what must be done over the long haul to resuscitate Haiti. To that end, he plans an art auction, featuring very significant work, that could help fund a symposium of thinkers, scientists, and social and environmental planners.

“We have to start from ground zero,” he says. “We can not rebuild it the way it was before, a complete and total disaster, built by tyrants and crooks to benefit the very few and starve the rest. Believe me, as someone who knew Port-au-Prince when the sea was crystal clear, that city should never be rebuilt the way it was, including its meaningless palaces and political structures.”

Anger flairs as he talks about the past and the present, but then he smiles as he says that the famous quilt makers from Gee’s Bend, Alabama, have already offered to donate a quilt for such an auction. “Drastic measures must be taken,” he adds. “We need to formulate a serious vision for the future.”

Back in the bright exhibition space, a current vision of the world is beautifully and disturbingly expressed. Bahamian artist Blue Curry has suspended from the ceiling the skeletal jaw of a bull shark. Spilling out of the shark’s mouth to the floor are 754 hours’ worth of used cassette tapes. It can look alternately like a glamorous evening gown or a hideous concoction of dead animals and plastic garbage.

Duval-Carrié acknowledges that duality: “Whether they [the artists] are part of well-intentioned cultural directives or they are solo acts whose productions are in defiance of all odds, I want to honor their efforts by presenting them and their works in a pristine new facility, which provides the proper environment to enhance their visual acts.”

You can be involved in both relief efforts and broader planning at the cultural center. On February 14, the resident dance troupe Dance Now and a drum collective will hold a benefit for Haiti relief, with a suggested donation of $35; 305-960-2967. March 4-6, in the black box theater, the University of Miami will hold a seminar about the future of Caribbean culture; 305-757-5307. “Global Caribbean” runs through March at the Little Haiti Cultural Center, 260 NE 59th Terr., Miami; 305-960-2969.