Haitian Banksy meets JR

I'm sorry for disappearing, but the last week has been crazy!  So many exciting and inspiring things have been going on that I ended up extending the trip.  I wasn't then and I'm still not ready to leave.  Haiti really holds on tight...

I have so many stories and experiences I want to share since my last post.  As I'm going through my pictures and notes, I'm amazed at how much we've done in such a short period of time.  Logistically, Haiti can be really difficult, but it definitely is a place where amazing things can happen.  You just can't plan for them.

On Friday, something amazing did happen.  It was a moment when everything felt right and I knew I was in the right place at the right time.  As you know, we've spent the majority of our trip installing art and participating in the Inside Out Project.  Jerry, the Haitian artist that collaborated with us on the memorial & whose eyes we wheat pasted at Haiti Communitere, really took to the project.  He loved the new technique and vision and really wanted to meet JR.  At first, I thought that was an outlandish dream, but as I said before, incredible things happen here.  Through a series of random coincidences and great luck, Jerry's wish came true.

JR & Jerry

It turns out that JR and his team were here the same time as us bringing the Inside Out Project to Haiti.   Bringing Jerry and JR together was definitely a highlight of this trip.  It's what the whole project is about; international collaboration on a large scale art project.

So, after months of preparation, we stood on a street corner in Haiti with JR and Jerry, talking about wheat paste techniques and street art.  It doesn't get any better than that.

2 Years Later....

On the anniversary of the earthquake, we attended a ceremony in Citi Soleil.  It took place across the street from the mural we installed, so we got to be with the people we worked with all week. 

It was a beautiful ceremony…

After music and inspirational words, members of the community released balloons into the sky to represent those they lost during the earthquake.  

Once the balloons disappeared into the sky, we played and danced with the children.  Rather than mourning, we celebrated and focused on the present & the future.  Even though January 12th will always be remembered as a day of loss for Haiti, in typical Haitian style, the people turned the day into a celebration of life, not of death.  

It's so easy to focus on losses and misfortunes in life, but we should all be more like the Haitian people and celebrate what we do have.  

Two years have passed, and I can tell you first hand that a lot of work still needs to be done here. But, one thing that wasn't lost in the earthquake is Haiti's spirit and zest for life. 

Community Collaboration through Art

On Tuesday, we spent the entire day in Citi Soleil working on our memorial mural.  It was one of the most intense, rewarding, and inspirational days I've ever had.  We gathered an entire community around an art project, facilitated the first collaboration between the Haitian street artists, Jerry & Snake, and brought a new type of mixed media street art to Haiti.  It was beautiful day I will never forget.


Here are some pictures from the installation.  

Jerry & Snake Wheat Pasting on the wall.

Jerry & Snake work as the community gathers to watch.

Community members checking out the Cathedral installation.

Jerry spray painting part of the mural.

Local children pose in front of the new image promoting education. 

One generation of Haitians pose in front of another. 

Jerry & Snake tag their collaboration.

Here's something I'd like to share with you that Jerry said at the end of the day.  He brilliantly captures what the project was all about.    


"I hope that there will be more of these kinds of initiatives such as we’re doing today, done voluntarily, because it helps children and youth when they see how this has been done. It also gives another face and image to a place which everyone calls a ghetto.  It can help places like this improve it's image, where everyone can come and hang out, and do what they feel like doing. This is what’s important for us to experience." 


I couldn't agree more.  This project wasn't just about putting art up on a wall.  It was about bringing a community together and using the art as a tool for social commentary.  Citi Soleil is often misrepresented and categorized as a dangerous place that people should avoid.  This mural is a way for these people to tell their story; show the world what their community really is about.  I hope the mural continues to bring their community together and inspires more collaboration throughout Citi Soleil.  

The Inside Out Project & the Haitian Banksy

As many of you already know, one of the main projects we're working on in Haiti is bringing art to the streets and using it to gather & strengthen communities.  While most of the installations are aimed at physical communities, one of the pieces targets a transient community -- the people flying in and out of the Port-au-Prince airport.

The portrait is 40 feet by 16 feet and is currently going on top of giant container ships at the GRU compound.  GRU is located right next to the airport so planes constantly fly over the base making it the perfect place for the picture to be seen!  Instead of the harsh conditions around the airport, the first & last thing people will see when entering or leaving Port-au-Prince will be a magnificent portrait.  It's so fitting for a country filled with so much creativity, culture and art!

The portrait is of the famous Haitian street artist Jerry.  His art is beautiful, inspiring, and can be seen all over Port-au-Prince.  Here are a few of my favorites that we captured during out last trip.  Good news for all you Jerry fans out there, word is he's getting ready to hit the streets with some new images.  I can't wait!

We were fortunate enough to meet him during our last trip to Haiti and asked him to participate in the project.  Jerry is known as the "Haitian Banksy," so he agreed to let us take a picture as long as it was just of his eyes.

Today we started wheat pasting the portrait and Jerry came over to help.  Not only was it fun to watch him work on a new type of art, (he's been wanting to experiment with wheat paste since our last trip) but we definitely needed another set of hands.  The portrait is huge!  It's separated into 14 pieces and had it not been for Jerry, we would have put the first strip on backwards.  Luckily he recognized the side of his ear before we pasted the entire strip down.

Jerry & I getting ready to wheat paste.

We still have more than half the portrait to paste, but today was an experience I will never forget.  It was a true collaboration of art, between two famous street artists that have never met.  A community we were able to bring together through art.      

Future for the Kids

I'm sorry for my absence the last few days, but I didn't have power!  Glad to be back online and able to share what has been going on with the trip.

On Friday, our planned cleanup in Cité Soleil was cancelled because they weren't able to secure a truck, so instead we went to a different part of Cité Soleil with friends from GRU.  We visited a neighborhood where our friend Frantz has been trying to secure a place for the children and women of the community so they have a safe environment to learn & play.  

Frantz, Found of Future for the Kids.

Most of the children come from single parent homes, and are unsupervised for most of the day, so his organization, Future for the Kids provides them with activities, meals and supervision.  I'm working on a video for him about the organization which I'll post when I'm home, so I'll keep this brief, but after hearing this story I felt compelled to try and help.  


A woman in the community had donated a building to Future for the Kids so Frantz and the children decorated and painted the space, and were ready to move in.  The children were ecstatic!  Unfortunately, once the woman saw how beautiful the room looked after they cleaned it up, she took it back.  Despite the setback, Frantz is still working with the community and has found a small lot of land that he wants to buy for the children.  It's only $900 and I'm determined to try and help him raise the money.  It's definitely going to need a lot of work, it's filled with trash and has no structure, but I see it as a project the community can work on together.  


After spending time with "Sister" and the kids in the community, I can honestly say a center for Future for the Kids will make a difference in their lives.  Without it, they are literally playing in the gutters and streets.  When we visited, we brought a One World Futbol Project soccer ball and sidewalk chalk for the kids; their smiles were electric.  Seeing the children simply be children literally made my day.  If you're interested in helping make Future for the Kid's community center a reality please send me an email at samantha.yarock@gmail.com.  Mesi Anpil!!

Frantz & children with the One World Futbol - oh how kids love soccer.

Girls using the sidewalk chalk as lipstick!

Bringing the Inside Out Project to Haiti

One of the main objectives of this trip is to bring JR's Inside Out Project to Haiti.  Before coming, we chose pictures from our first trip that we felt represented the people and messages of Haiti, and submitted them to the project.  For those who aren't familiar with the project, you should definitely check out this video on the 2011 TED Prize Winner JR and check out the website.  It's really amazing!


But to give you a little background, it's a large-scale participatory art project that challenges people around the world to "reveal and share the untold stories and images of people around the world."  To get involved in the project all you need to do is take a black and white photographic portrait, upload the image to the project's website, and then paste the poster you receive back for the world to see.   That's exactly what Mike and I did and I can't wait to wheat paste the portraits so they can be seen by the world.

One of the portraits we'll be wheat pasting in Haiti.
Photo by Mike Zuckerman

We have portraits that are going up at GRU, a transitional house for children, a Lakou in the Central Plateau, and even a 30 foot water tower in Cité Soleil!  All of the locations will have photographs of people from the community.  


In addition to the pre-planned installations, we've added another since we arrived.  A friend of ours lives and works in a part of  Cité Soleil called Little Haiti.  It's an incredible community -- which I'll cover in another post, because they deserve their own piece -- that is working on a memorial for the two year anniversary of the earthquake.  The memorial is going to go up on a wall in their neighborhood and I feel honored that they've invited us to participate.  Working with local Haitian street artists, we're going to combine their art with our photographs to create a giant message of hope & inspiration for a brighter future.  Tomorrow we're participating in a community cleanup around the wall to get the area ready for the memorial.  I love how art (even before it's created) is bringing the community together.  Art truly is a powerful tool for social change...

Home in Haiti

Here are some pictures to give you a better idea of where I've been staying in Haiti.  GRU, which will soon have a new name, is by far the best place to be when you first arrive.  It's comfortable, safe, and full of motivated and inspiring people.  You can check out the video I made about the organization in an earlier post here.

So many innovative organizations and people stay here, so it's no surprise that a lot has changed since my last visit.  But even with all of the change, it still feels like home.  Thanks GRU!

The Hole in the Wall, the best bar in Haiti and it's right in my backyard!

My home in Haiti, the beautiful Earthship.

The lovely Superadobe house, built by the Love & Haiti Project.

Happy New Year from Haiti!

It feels great to back in Haiti to start off 2012.  2011 was quite a year.  It was filled with so many wonderful memories and firsts, but the thing I'm most thankful for is my journey to Haiti.

So....it feels extremely fitting to be back here to start off the new year.  I'm looking forward to connecting with friends from my last trip and to meeting new ones during this one.  I'm so excited to continue the projects we began on our first trip and to embark on some new ones as well.

I'm not big on resolutions, but since it's a new year, here's my resolution for my time in Haiti.  I'm really going to try and stick to blogging and capturing my experiences while I'm here.  Last trip was tough, it was my first time in a place like this and even though I hate to admit it, the heat got the best of me.  By the time I was home from a full day in the field, I was wiped and surrendered to my exhaustion.  This time I'm going to force myself, even if it's just a few lines, to get on my computer and share my day because I know I'll be happy I did it once I'm home.  I learned so much the last time around and I know this incredible place has even more to teach me.

I can honestly say that Haiti made me a better person in 2011 and I hope that in 2012 I can help make Haiti a better place.