Myrlande Constant exhibition honors the labor of working-class artists

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/30/ [login to see] /myrlande-constant-exhibition-art-haiti-vodou
The work of Haitian artist Myrlande Constant is getting attention at the top of the contemporary art world. Her meticulously embroidered flags, known as drapos, were featured at the Venice Biennale last year, and she just wrapped up a New York gallery exhibition.

Now with a new show at UCLA's Fowler Museum, Constant becomes the first Haitian woman to have a solo show in a major U.S. Museum. Her work challenges the dominant narrative that Haiti is a place of chaos and despair.

Jerry Philogene, who co-curated the show, says she was mesmerized by the work.

"I saw each bead individually sewn to create an image, to outline a shape, to create eyes, create lips, create even colored nails. And I thought of the labor it takes to do that, intense labor. The intense hand and eye coordination was amazing."

Constant covers every inch of fabric with thousands of glass beads and sequins to create glittering scenes using symbols and imagery from her vodou faith. Many of the pieces are almost sculptural in texture and depth. Constant's art is the work of many hands, with as many as ten people working on a single drapo together.