This event, notably brought about by the Galerie Monnin, once again illustrates the scene's dynamism in spite of the immense barriers it faces.
At the heart of the island's artistic ecosystem, the originally Swiss Monnin family opened their gallery in Port-au-Prince in 1958. From the 1970s until the 2000s, founder Roger's son Michel Monnin was in charge of the gallery, and encouraged the Haitian Painters movement. Since then, the founder's granddaughter Gaël has taken over, and the daily challenge that the venture represents remains the same.
Miami | Go to Haiti — Galerie Monnin & Wynwood Prime in collaboration with Dot.Community + Kolektif509 + Haiti Friends
Small step backwards
Today, the wish of the Haitians to move forward by cutting loose as much as possible from their State is born of a double penalty. After a long fight to gain their independence, just years later they had a monumental debt imposed upon them by France; it will take 120 years to pay off, during which time the development of their economy will have been stunted. Whilst France has helped the country in recent years after the earthquakes, this aid seems more than a little slim given the harm previously caused.
On top of a year of heightened political tensions, the people who live there — and participate in the local art market — have to face water and power cuts, fuel shortages and neverending administrative processes on a daily basis. All problems which, in Haitians' words, make work on the island "mission impossible".
Galerie Monnin
Faced with these obstacles, various market participants have invested in solutions that arose with the development of online platforms, as attested by Christine Souffrant Ntim, entrepreneur-founder of virtual platform Vendedy and behind the Haiti Tech Summit. During the most recent summit in June, the young entrepreneur highlighted the advantages that this technological evolution could have on participants in the local economy. Amongst the main points raised by Christine Souffrant Ntim was the independence from the (very unstable) government offered by these alternatives. Local market players all seem to share the same hope of seeing governmental activity confined to an administrative dimension, leaving economic and political issues to private stakeholders.
Given the difficulty in finding local collectors, and almost non-existent tourism, with the socio-economic elite tending to favour the United States, the Galerie Monnin decided to innovate. Gaël created an online sales platform via the gallery's website. The success of this venture, with sales made all over the world, confirms the attraction of amateurs to rich and exciting Haitian art.
From December 14 in Haiti, Naïve painter Yguerlio is on show at the gallery.
Yguerlio Descardes, Coastline — Acrylic on canvas
