Hope in Collectivity: The Women Artists of Matenwa, La Gonâve, Haïti

The following piece was written before the 2005 elections and post the devastations of the 2004 hurricane season.

At present, the Atis Fanm Matenwa Collective is more or less stranded in the interior of l’Ile de la Gonave and seeking to rebuild their community after the devastating earthquake of Jan. 12/2010. Please follow the link at the end of the piece to find the collective’s url & for donation information to assist the women’s collective to continue their life and community-sustaining art works.

By Myriam J. A. Chancy

(Photos by Ellen LeBow)

Scarf painting

With the November 2005 presidential elections fast approaching, things have suddenly gone calm in Haiti’s bustling capital.  It’s the calm before the storm, some say, expecting the violence which has escalated beyond proportion — from drug related killings to economically motivated kidnappings – to start up with even greater force around election-time.  For those watching from afar, the televised scenes of violence eerily mirror the carnage witnessed during the déchoukaj, or uprooting, of the Duvalier régime in the years following the fall of the dictatorship in 1986.  For those on the ground, conditions of tragic uncertainty contain daily existence, as the country seems poised for greater realms of despair.  Yet, even in the midst of such seeming chaos, there resides hope in the pockets of hills and valleys, forgotten slum areas and remote villages where collectives persevere quietly in the eye of the impending storm.

Grassroots organizations such as Atis Fanm Matenwa are weaving new threads into a national tapestry that, from a distance, appears to be unraveling at lightning speed. The women’s collective situated inland on the island of La Gônave off the coast of Haiti produces hand-painted silk scarves that colorfully animate Haitian folk tales, images of vodou gods, as well as record the flora and fauna fast disappearing from the women’s environment. The scarf project evolved as part of an effort to expand the curriculum of the Matenwa Community Learning Center, jointly administered by Haitian co-director Abner Sauveur and Asian-American Chris Low.  Upon the invitation of the directors, two American artists, visual artist Ellen LeBow and music teacher, Lisa Brown, were asked to become involved in the school’s programs and principles.  LeBow and Brown formed the Artisan Center where Atis Fanm was born.  LeBow, captivated by the originality and symbolic dimensions of traditional Haitian art when she came across a book on the subject at her local library in the early ‘80s, jumped at the chance to assist Low when the latter asked for her assistance to find a way to make use of the arts as “an expressive means to earn a living”[1] for the women of the community.  For a country like Haiti, suffering a lack of adequately stocked and maintained public libraries, these delicate and brilliant works of art each comprise a functional archive that both preserves Haitian lore and teaches others the richness of the country’s multiple legacies.

Makilez, child, and handpainted silk scarf

Ironically, the remoteness of the village meant that, when the collective began, the women had “no awareness of their own arts legacy,” and little to no access to art supplies, even to the refuse materials commonly recycled for use in metalwork, for instance, on the mainland.  The women were taught about Haitian art traditions as they learned to paint, the standing agreement being that “any of the young women who learned the skill had to stay in and finish school and their children had to go to school.”

The idea for making scarves was inspired by the mouchwa, the common headdress worn by Haitian women while they work, of which more elaborate versions exist for ritual adornment.  Silk was chosen because it travels well and at little cost, enabling the women to receive 80% of revenue from sales with the remaining 20% going to the purchase of materials, shipping and handling, website maintenance, printing, crafts fair costs and supplies.  Even though the project is garnering the collective a much needed source of income, the American directors often pay out of pocket for the materials needed for the women to carry on their inspiring work.  For this reason, they are currently searching for a small, renewable grant or endowment that would ensure the project’s sustainability while also allowing the women to maintain their independence.

By the time Atis Fanm Matenwa was formed five years ago, the Matenwa Community Learning Center, had already been recognized as one of Haiti’s most progressive schools; it has gone on to assist other schools throughout Haiti. At present, the women of Atis Fanm “are seen as an influential group” within the community and are invited to participate in meetings with community elders and leaders.  The Collective is also giving back to the community by providing a portion of their earnings to other local projects.  Where once young men and women were trying to escape the small island, often to find themselves lost in the slums of Port-au-Prince, they are now banding together to preserve their land, creating community food gardens and an experimental fish farm. Other arts have been introduced to the community such as drapeaux, the sequined flags used in vodou ceremonies that have more recently been recognized as an independent and original Haitian art form; youth have been learning silver and bead jewelry design and a printmaking class has been started this summer.  Music classes form a part of the school’s curriculum and, on their own, local women have started sewing and cooking classes.  Future plans include forming a theater group, building a community oven, and a village coffee house.

Unassumingly, the scarves of Atis Fanm Matenwa have spawned a quiet revolution in a land reknown for insurgency.  They are the rainbow sign between storms announcing that optimism resides here in a land still struggling to reap the fruits of its independence.  As one of the school’s songs expresses: “One by one, we will not be undone, by the violence that surrounds us.”

For further information and to purchase scarves, please visit: www.artmatenwa.org or email Lbo@cape.com .

Naida and sequin Drapo