Please join Gabrielle Civil and Vladimir Cybil Charlier for a book signing brunch of Tourist Art
Combining original poetry, drawings and watercolors, Tourist Art addresses Haitian art, tourism, border relations, commercialization, and the global art market.
Created by two Haitian diasporic artists, the book highlights multiple ironies: how Haitian tourist art is produced in Haiti, a place with virtually no tourists; how it is the shadow of a rich, Haitian fine art tradition collected around the world; and, how Haitian tourist souvenirs are exported and sold in high volume,largely outside of Haiti itself.
Carefully designed, each page of the book offers iconic, Haitian images (market women with baskets, vodou spirits, historical figures), juxtaposing them with pop images of globalization (tour guide badges, McDonald’s French fries, a do-not-enter sign.) Ultimately, the poem reveals how Haitian art receives more mobility and access than Haitian people.
“take the art tour. to jacmel air stream to boston donkey hoof to port-au-prince shark raft to montreal … cracked foot to cap haitïen tap tap to Brooklyn…”
“tourist art is always selling time. wood carvings, figurines, postcards of sans souci. in santo domingo, viejo san juan, nassau, brooklyn, miami, detroit, in holes in the wall. tourist art by haitians doesn’t need haitians at all.”
(excerpts from Tourist Art)
When & Where
Sunday, November 11th, 1-4PM JRC Space 11 East 124th Street RSVP appreciated, 212.369-0998
Additional venues to catch tourist art: Friday, November 9th, 2012 Haitian Studies Association conference from 2.55- 4.10 PM and at the Haitian Studies Association Cultural event sponsored by Haiti Cultural Exchange- from 7.30-9 PM, York College of C.U.N.Y.
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