Haitian Art: A Digital Crossroads Workshop
Grinnell College and Waterloo Center for the Arts, Thursday March 5th to Saturday March 8th, 2020
During the first weekend of March 2020, scholars and specialists in Haitian art gathered in Iowa for a three-day workshop focused on digital resources and Haitian art collections. We invited ten guests from across the United States and Haiti to join the HADC team, along with several Grinnell faculty members, to assess the state of Haitian art history. The workshop’s conversations helped shape the direction of our emerging digital humanities project, as we debated best practices, historiography, accessibility, sustainability, and questions of inequity.
A central theme was the persistent disparity within the field, evident in the fragmented nature of archival records, the uneven stewardship of artists’ estates, and the widespread dispersal of artworks across both private and public collections. Drawing on our shared experience as researchers, archivists, and curators, we asked how to develop a stronger and more rigorous Haitian art history—and how digital tools and interdisciplinary approaches might both broaden understanding and fill long-standing gaps.
Our discussions, held in close proximity to the artworks themselves, allowed us to imagine new futures for the study of Haitian art and to consider innovative ways to support and promote the cultural legacy of the world’s first Black republic.
HADC Workshop Schedule
Thursday, March 5th, 2020 – Grinnell, IA
4pm – Peterson Lecture in Art History and keynote by Jerry Philogene, “Death, Freedom, Epistemologies: The Radical Labor of Haitian Aesthetic” [HSSC S3325]
5:30pm – Reception for the installation Visualizing Abolition & Freedom (https://vaf.grinnell.edu) [HSSC 1st floor]
6pm – Dinner [Relish]
Friday, March 6th, 2020 – Grinnell, IA
8:00am – Breakfast available [HSSC N1116]
8:45am – Welcoming remarks, Fredo Rivera (Grinnell College) [HSSC N1116]
9:00am – Panel: Digital archives and Haiti [HSSC N1116]
Panelists: Laura Wagner (The Radio Haiti Archive, Duke University), Hadassah St. Hubert and M. Stephanie Chancy (Digital Library of the Caribbean, Florida International University), and Elizabeth Pierre-Louis (Fondasyon Konesans Ak Libète/FOKAL, Port-au-Prince)
Moderator: Mark Christel (Librarian of the College, Grinnell)
10:30am – Break
11am – Panel: Haitian art collections [HSSC N1116]
Panelists: Edouard Duval-Carrié (Haitian Cultural Arts Alliance, Miami), Axelle Liautaud (Centre d’Art, Port-au-Prince), and Chawne Paige and Elizabeth Andrews (Waterloo Center for the Arts)
Moderator: Peter Haffner (Centre College)
12:30pm – Lunch [HSSC N1116]
1pm – Panel: Studying Haiti in Grinnell [HSSC N1116]
Panelists include Vadricka Etienne (Sociology), Gwenola Caradec (French), Tess Kulstad (Anthropology), Doug Hess (Political Science)
Moderator: Sarah Purcell (History)
2pm – Visit to the Grinnell College Museum of Art
Featuring the exhibitions Damon Davis and
Excavations: The Prints of Julie Mehretu
3pm – Panel: State of the Field – Haitian Art History [Grinnell College Museum of Art]
Panelists: Fredo Rivera (Grinnell College), Erica James (University of Miami), Katherine Smith (UCLA)
Moderator: Jerry Philogene (Dickinson College)
4:30pm – Shuttle leaves to Waterloo
6pm – Check into hotel – Courtyard Marriott Waterloo
6:30pm – Dinner [Galleria del Paco]
Saturday, March 7th, 2020 – Waterloo, IA
9:45am – Welcoming remarks (Kent Shankle)
10am – Tour of Haitian art collection on display with Chawne Paige
Noon – Lunch catered in museum
1pm – Exploration of the WCA vaults
3:30pm – Group discussion
6pm – Dinner and workshop closing [Blue Iguana]
Sunday, March 8th, 2020 – Waterloo, IA
9am – Advisory board and team member meeting