MaximsNewsNetwork: 31 May 2010 - UNTV - U.N. MINUSTAH: Port-au-Prince, Haiti - Haitian art and culture has always been seen as a symbol of hope but the massive earthquake left unseen devastation to the spirit of Haiti's artists. The joyful, vibrant paintings that fetch thousands of dollars in the United States and Europe were the country's greatest source of foreign currency. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Prince Luc, artist, Haiti: "It doesn't come into my head to do something that I see, or something realistic. Most of all, I prefer impressionistic, surreal, a bit naive." "You could hear a noise, but you didn't know where this noise was coming from." "Everybody, instead of staying standing up, threw themselves on the ground. But we didn't know if the ground was gong to open up if we were going to fall inside. We didn't know anything." SOUNDBITE (Creole) Patrick Vilaire, sculptor, Haiti: "This museum houses all the artistic legacy of the grand period of Haitian painting." "This collection here is where you find all the works of the Masters of Haitian painting, the great artistic movement that was born in 1945. I came here today, after the earthquake, to try and save the collection, because it's in danger!" "It's a painting by a Haitian artist who lives in France." SOUNDBITE (English) Teeluck Bhuwanee, UNESCO, Haiti: "Economically, culture can save this country because it has an enormous amount of talent in all ways." "If this country can rebuild itself it's going to do it on its culture and it's going to do it on its artisans." "Churches are very important. They have a very strong symbolic and cultural value for the people. This is where people meet and get together and sing and that is the basic identity of the country." SOUNDBITE (Creole) Prince Luc, artist, Haiti: "After the earthquake, I didn't really know who I was anymore. I am now praying to my 'genie.'" "Our culture, our strength, it's rather a kind of battle, it's a sharing. I want to go back to our culture, to show it how it is. Sometimes my work is on this voodoo theme." SOUNDBITE (Creole) Nacius Joseph, artist, Haiti: "I was in church attending a service. We felt the movement of the earth. Jesus, everybody called 'Jesus'. This was the only name, the only sound. By a miracle, God did not let the church fall on us and we came out safely. This is something we can't explain. It was marvellous." "My house is cracked. We can't sleep in it. That's why we are behind here." Nacius, his wife and two of his five children, now live alongside an estimated 1,500 others in this camp alone, in a similar plight. "There is nothing, no food, completely bare. We are still alive but we have no means." SOUNDBITE (Creole) Prince Luc, artist, Haiti: "We should demonstrate what we have experienced, and that's why they're working on the walls - with their impressions, their feelings, with their fear. When you go inside the building, you see that they're beginning to be inspired." SOUNDBITE (Creole) Prince Luc, artist, Haiti: "Before, I preferred the colours that spoke of Life, that have more elements that are more joyful, because I love gaiety. But there's too much death, too much havoc, too many things have happened in front of me. I have gone back more deeply into that darkness. There is a tiny bit of colour that remains, because I think that if there is Life, there is hope." ..... ( UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION: UNTV ) .... MaximsNewsNetwork: News Network for the United Nations and the International Community. See: http://www.MaximsNews.com. "GIVING POWER & RESONANCE TO THE VOICE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY" ...............

• published: 02 Jun 2010
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