Little Haiti, big muralAMONG the shelves in Libreri Mapou, a bookshop in a row of pastel-fronted stores in Little Haiti, is a dull-looking door. Beyond it, up a staircase, lies a technicolour trove of paintings, statues, embroidery, memorabilia of bygone political campaigns and honours awarded to the proprietor, Jan Mapou. Imprisoned under Papa Doc Duvalier, Mr Mapou fled, moving to Miami in 1984 and establishing himself as a radio host, Creole-language advocate and poet. For years activists, lawyers and artists gathered above his shop.
They still do, though much of the action has moved around the corner to the swish Little Haiti Cultural Centre. A candidate in Haiti’s disputed presidential race recently spoke in its classy theatre (many locals cannot vote in their ancestral homeland, but their remittances, estimated by the World Bank at $1.1 billion in 2012, give them a say); one of the centre’s galleries currently displays photos of Little Haiti by youngsters from Little Havana, and vice versa. In his adjacent studio Edouard Duval-Carrié, a Haitian-born artist, creates haunting nocturnal beach scenes, etched in...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/1LH2lew
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