A Haitian Feminist Gaze: Haitian Women Artists Reimagining Religious Iconography

Abstract: Engaging the work of Caribbean women visual artists furthers an understanding of Caribbean women's experiences in the region and how they are echoed in the diaspora. This article examines the work of Haitian women visual artists Myrlande Constant and Naudline Pierre, emphasizing their contributions to a Haitian feminist tradition of artistic imagination as an ethical imperative and practice of self-possession. Building on Tina Campt's concept of the Black gaze, I introduce the Haitian feminist gaze as a lens through which these artists challenge patriarchal norms, Eurocentric iconography, and the coloniality embedded in religious and artistic traditions. Constant's textile work Danbala et Aida Laflambo Nègre Arc en Ciel File (1990s) and Pierre's painting Close Quarters (2018) disrupt dominant narratives of race, gender, and religion in Haitian Vodou and Christianity, offering alternative ways of seeing and affirming marginalized experiences across the Black Atlantic. Embodying an ethical imagination as an artistic practice, both artists claim agency and reimagine normative forms, making visible autonomous feminine subjects that resonate with Black women's realities. This article situates their work within a Black Atlantic visual art tradition, arguing that their Haitian feminist perspectives expand understandings of Black feminist spirituality and creative resistance. Rezime: Dyaloge ak travay atis vizyèl fanm Karayibeyen yo ede n pwofonde konpreyansyon nou sou eksperyans fanm Karayib yo nan rejyon an ak fason travay yo rezone nan dyaspora a. Atik sa a egzamine travay vizyèl atis Myrlande Constant ak Naudline Pierre, ki se de fanm ayisyen pwodui. Epi, atik la mete aksan sou kontribisyon yo nan yon tradisyon feminis ayisyen kote imajinasyon atistik se tankou yon enperatif etik ak pratik posesyon pwòp tèt pa yo. Dapre konsèp Tina Campt lan nan Black Gaze , mwen entwodui rega feminis ayisyen an kòm yon ti loup kote atis sa yo defye nòm patriyakal yo, ikonografi ewosantrik, ak kolonyalite ki entegre nan tradisyon relijye ak atistik yo. Drapo twal Constant, Danbala et Aida Laflambo Nègre Arc en Ciel File (1990s), ak penti Pierre Close Quarters (2018) deranje naratif dominan an ki egziste sou ras, sèks, ak relijyon nan Vodou ayisyen an ak Krisyanis la. Rega sa a tou ofri yon lòt fason pou nou wè ak afime eksperyans majinalize yo atravè Atlantik Nwa a. Nan lide pou enkòpore yon ethical imagination kòm yon pratik atistik, tou de atis yo reprezante yon vwa solid, epi yo reimajine fòm nòmatif yo, yon fason pou fè fanm yo vin sijè ki otonòm, ki vizib epi ki rezonnen ak reyalite fanm Nwa yo. Atik sa a sitiye travay yo nan yon tradisyon atizay vizyèl Atlantik Nwa a, li diskite ke pèspektiv feminis ayisyen yo ogmante konpreyansyon yo genyen sou espirityalite feminis nwa ak rezistans kreyatif.