From March 5–7, 2020, HADC convened a workshop focused on digital archives and Haitian art. Thirteen invited participants were asked to prepare informal presentations on assigned topics and respond to a set of advance questions. The goal was to gather insight into current digital-archive practices and ongoing work in Haitian art, helping to shape future directions for the Haitian Arts Digital Crossroads database and web platform. For many attendees, this gathering was their last in-person event before the Covid-19 shutdowns, making the chance to meet—and to spend time with the Waterloo Center for the Arts’ collection—especially meaningful.
The workshop opened in Grinnell with a keynote lecture by Jerry Philogene, “Death Freedom Epistemologies: The Labour of Haitian Visual Aesthetics.” A reception followed, celebrating the permanent installation Visualizing Abolition & Freedom, led by artist Edouard Duval-Carrié. The second day featured a series of thematic panels at Grinnell College. During lunch, Grinnell faculty members discussed how Haiti figures in their teaching and research, underscoring the wide interest in Haiti on campus and the potential for the database to serve multiple disciplines. Panelists included Gwenola Caradec (French), Tess Kulstad (Anthropology), Doug Hess (Political Science), Vadricka Etienne (Sociology), and moderator Sarah Purcell (History).
The morning panel on digital archives, moderated by Mark Christel, brought together Laura Wagner (Radio Haiti Archive Project), Elizabeth Pierre-Louis (Fondasyon Konesans ak Libète, Haiti), and Stephanie Chancy and Hadassah St. Hubert (Digital Library of the Caribbean). While each guest detailed their own projects, they were also invited to consider a set of shared guiding questions provided beforehand.
WORKSHOP QUESTIONS
What particular challenges exist on the ground with establishing and maintaining digital archives?
How do your institutions/projects establish best practices?
How do you think of your publics, language, and accessibility?
What institutions have you collaborated with?
What are the limits and potentials of collaboration?
What steps do you take to make a more sustainable model?
What challenges exist for the longevity of your digital projects?
These questions addressed key issues we were grappling with in the project and gave us the chance to learn directly from seasoned archivists, librarians, and scholars. Their insights, especially during the Q&A that followed the four presentations, proved invaluable.
Our mid-morning panel on Haitian art collections was moderated by Peter Haffner (Centre College) and featured Chawne Paige (Curator, WCA), Elizabeth Andrews (Registrar, WCA), Axelle Liautaud, and Edouard Duval-Carrié, each bringing deep knowledge of Haitian art and its stewardship. Sydney Jenkins, Director of the Art Galleries at Ramapo College of New Jersey, was also scheduled to participate but was unable to attend due to a last-minute health issue. For this panel, we shared the following guiding questions:
What role do collectors and institutional benefactors play in the establishment of Haitian art collections?
What challenges exist with documenting the provenance of Haitian art collections?
How do you define your collection – what aspects of Haitian art does it reveal? How does it relate to other collections in your region?
What relationship do you have with private galleries of Haitian art? What role do private collections and private galleries play in relation to museum collections?
How does your collection relate to varied publics?
In our panel discussion, we examined the role of craft and the work of artisans, the position of the artist within these traditions, and the importance of engaging directly with Haiti and its communities.
Our final panel, focused on Haitian art history, was held in the Grinnell College Museum of Art and featured Katherine Smith, Fredo Rivera, and Erica Moiah James. Moderated by Jerry Philogene, the session drew on a set of guiding questions shared with panelists ahead of time:
How do you define Haitian art history?
What comprises Haitian art? What narratives are understudied or missing within the field?
How do disciplinary approaches impact the field of Haitian art? What is your disciplinary training, and how does it relate to interdisciplinary approaches to the study of Caribbean and African diasporic art?
What are the biggest challenges in the field? What is needed to better support research on Haitian art?
This panel proved especially productive because it built on the themes raised earlier, examining how the structures of museums and databases often contribute to the continued undervaluing of Haitian art. Participants discussed the frequent inaccuracies, gaps, and barriers to access that persist in many institutional records. Katherine Smith raised a particularly urgent concern about the future of Haitian art, noting its current vulnerability and citing Marilyn Houlberg’s extraordinary private collection, which fell into disrepair after her death. Across the conversation, panelists underscored the significant disparities that continue to shape the field.
The third day of the workshop was held in Waterloo, where we spent the morning touring the WCA’s galleries and storage areas and engaging directly with their Haitian art collection. We ended the day with a group discussion that revisited the previous panels and outlined next steps for the HADC project. The following morning, the HADC team met with board members and invited guests to identify concrete outcomes. We agreed on several priorities: first, that Grinnell College Libraries has both the commitment and the capacity to host an expandable database, and that we will pursue grant funding to support its development; second, that we will join the Digital Library of the Caribbean and draw on its resources; third, that we will engage meaningfully with partners and publics in Haiti and across its diaspora, especially regarding language needs and technological access; and fourth, that we must design a database that remains viable over time and is not dependent on any one faculty member’s expertise. We also discussed potential future collaborations, including publications. Overall, the workshop was a tremendous success and established a strong foundation for the work ahead.