You & I & The Whiskey Tavern
You & I & The Whiskey Tavern
You & I & The Whiskey Tavern

About the artist

As someone of Haitian descent, there were interests in my art skills and possibly becoming a Haitian painter. The pressure to be someone slowly made me dislike painting landscapes despite my skills in it. During pre college I went abroad to Tuscany for a change of scenery. It was here when I had my canvas and paints out, overlooking a stunning landscape, when the sound of buzzing surrounded me. Moments later I realized I got stung by a bee because I couldn’t see out of one eye. I WAS ALLERGIC! My eyelid had blown up.

An old Italian woman came to the hill where I was, and offered me to come to her home to remedy the bee sting by placing an onion over my eye. Naive and hopeful I followed. As I watched the woman interact with her family and go about her daily tasks, I realized there and then my passion for telling people’s stories through portraiture. From creating portraits I could communicate an entire story about someone without having to say a word. And to connect despite where we may come from.