Series: The Island Beneath the Sea

53 x 53 x 4 in

Mixed media on wood in artist frame

Covered with resin

Makandal was an African slave brought to Haiti. He fled the plantation and became a maroon leader who inspired many slaves. He was a rebel, a fighter, and for some, the face of freedom.
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In this piece, I wanted to illustrate the maroon slaves (neg marons) that fled the plantations with the hope of freedom that Makandal gave them to go hide in the mountains and prepare for rebellion… I used old texts from 1700’s and aged them before embedding them into the background of the frame of this painting. Those texts were put out by the white ‘colons’ when a slave fled the plantation.  This represents, to me, hope and freedom and illustrates perfectly what I wanted to express.
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I added cawri shells to the painting as Makandal was an African slave brought to Haiti. Cawri shells are used in Africa for many things from jewelry to sorcery… which was perfect to illustrate this painting!

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Makandal was known to create plant based remedies and it is believed that he was involved in magic and sorcery of some kind so… I worked with hougans (voodoo priests) and a mambo (voodoo priestess) to determine the loas that would go with Makandal’s spirit. They were then cut into iron (haitian art) before adding them to the frame.