Published: November 24, 2022; Aithor: Julia Sonrisa
Address: 495 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225, United States
Web: https://bklyncommons.com/contact/Four unique artistic projects were created in and for Brooklyn’s Haitian community. Features work by Steven Baboun, Robinson Mathurin, Shirlee Skai, and Lalin St. Juste.
Haiti Cultural Exchange (HCX) announces the 2022 Lakou NOU culminating event from 6-9 pm on Saturday December 3rd at BKLYN Commons: 495 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11225.
The 2022 Lakou NOU culminating event demonstrates the sheer resistance and power within Brooklyn’s Haitian diasporic community. Four unique projects by the 2022 Lakou NOU artists-in-residence examine crucial issues on the minds of many Haitians: the Haitian queer experience, immigration policy, language and identity, and what it means to be Black and Haitian in America. This free event presents the artists’ work in conversation with each other, demonstrating how these topics are intersectional.
Unlike traditional artmaking, where an artistic creation amplifies a sole artists’ perspective, Lakou NOU residents generated this work collaboratively with community members, weaving participants’ collective creativity into their respective art forms. The Lakou NOU culminating showcase will include visual art installations and photography by Steven Baboun, audio soundscapes and performance by Lalin St. Juste, a musical performance by Sherlee Skai, and a dance performance by Robenson Mathurin.
Haiti Cultural Exchange’s Lakou NOU artist residency program provides artists of Haitian descent with the opportunity to create and present new work by connecting their skills and talents to historically underserved Brooklyn neighborhoods, home to generations of Haitians and Haitian-Americans: Crown Heights, Canarsie, East Flatbush, and Flatbush. Lakou NOU artists develop collaborative community engagement projects that address neighborhood issues and highlight community assets. Artists in residence received individualized mentorship from HCX staff and interacted with each other as a cohort through discussion and support around topics relevant to Lakou NOU projects. HCX facilitated additional professional development workshops with Urban Bush Women, activist Emma Osore of the BlackSpace Urbanist collective, and a consortium of community stakeholders.
Steven Baboun (Canarsie): Fanmi M, Men Yo! (“My Family, There They Are!” in English) is a series of photographs, sculptures, and sound pieces birthed and inspired by the Haitian Queer community and reality. Each textile sculpture features a sound piece created collaboratively with participants in the Haitian Queer Educational and Artmaking workshop facilitated during Steven’s Lakou NOU residency.
Robenson Mathurin (Crown Heights): Koulè M Idantite M (My Skin, My Identity in English), is a dance workshop series that reflects on the complexity of Black identity in different societies and, specifically, as part of the immigrant experience. Community members engage in workshops in which they discuss: what does it mean to live, survive, and thrive in your own Black skin?
Sherlee Skai (Flatbush): Conversation Through Music combines community conversation, storytelling, and acoustic ballads (shaped by multicultural influences from Haitian folklore to American jazz and soul); the aim is to raise awareness of immigration rights and advocate for justice-centered policies for Haitian migrants.
Lalin St. Juste (East Flatbush): Mother Tongue, a multidimensional performance utilizing the soundscape of conversations around Kreyòl Ayisyen to interpret the celebratory and complex relationship to this language for Haitians throughout the diaspora.
Time: 6:00 PM — 9:00 PM EST
Free!
Detailed information and discussion of the event.