Edouard Duval-Carrié

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Edouard Duval-Carrié was born in Haiti, and raised in several countries, including Puerto Rico and Canada. He was educated at McGill University and at the Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux arts in Paris, and has traveled to the ancestral home of Haitian Vodou, the Republic of Benin. Although his work shows a cosmopolitan diversity, Haiti remains his major inspiration. In a variety of media and “visual concoctions,” he grapples with the disasters that have beset Haiti throughout her history, and the disaster that Haiti represents for many today. His work explores the genesis of the island nation, and the suffering that brought the society of slaves and masters to ebullition in the Haitian Revolution. He is equally inspired by the recent migration of hundreds of thousands of Haitians to the US, and the associations of Haitians with a pathology that he renders as an aesthetically gorgeous bacterial pattern. Throughout his work Duval-Carrié never loses sight of the fabulous world of spirits. “Loas,” “Esprits” or “Mystères” all convey a sense of foreboding inspiring the nebulousness from whence they came. Duval-Carrié’s widely exhibited work has been catalogued in six books and is featured in numerous permanent collections including the Miami Museum of Art and the Musée des Art Africains et Oceaniens.