The Hills We Die On (Flowers for President Jovenel Moïse)
Medium: Slip-cast porcelain ceramics
Dimensions: 10” x 8.5” x 8”
Year: 2021
Commissioned by the American Craft Council
Photography by Pedro Wazzan
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Object As Story:
I come from a legacy of oral historians and bush medicine magicians. With time, I learned the land around me as a kitchen for medicinal healing and bookkeeping. My grandfather, age 87, has worked as a farmer over the last 55 years in Haiti; through farming, he put all eleven of his children in school.
At mid-day, the land around the farm glistens as a red iron ore, accented by the copper-sun. Once the heat became unbearable, the animals would seek shelter under foliage, and we would head towards the river streams for a cooling. We would talk about life, my aspirations, and school during our sit-downs at the creek. Our conversations would always end with him saying the phrase, "If you know where you come from, you have a vision of where you are going; nobody can change your conviction or purpose."
Once the day came to an end, my Nana would greet my grandfather with a hot cup of coffee in porcelain china. This china always stood out to me as a child; it was the starkest white in all the pantry, and the outer rim of the cup was embellished with butterflies and plants. The entire china set was brought out only on special occasions, political events, or presidential elections.
In fashioning my object, I wanted to pay homage to the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, who came from humble beginnings. His father was a small-scale farmer and businessman; his mother helped sell their crops and worked as a seamstress. Mr. Moïse often recounted how he had grown up on a large sugar plantation in a rural area of the country and could relate to the vast majority of Haitians who live off the land.
In "The Hills We Die On (Flowers for President Jovenel Moïse)," I'm drawing parallels between popular medium and culture, using the idiom of the upside-down emoji face to form a connection between the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and his political influence. The classic smiley, inverted here, is often used to convey irony, sarcasm, and passive aggression. Mr. Moïse, 53, was shot dead inside his home in the Pelerin 5 neighborhood, in the hills above Port au Prince. My piece commemorates Mr. Moïse's legacy and the fragments of his vision for the Haitian people. The butterflies that grace the face are symbols of transformation and hope. The stark white porcelain head pays homage to my grandfather's cup of coffee he would casually drink after his evening work on the farm.