Haitian artists create again after earthquake and devastation!

Haitians are very artistic people and they have a unique heritage. Unfortunately part of it was lost, disappeared or was severely damaged following January’s earthquake.

Though family and friends might have been injured or died, some Haitian artists have gone back to being artists once again. They are reacting to all the horror, pain and devastation by going back to doing what they do best: painting.

These artists are now reaching out to express their feelings about what happened on that fateful day, but also about their future and that of their country. In a language without words, they want to show us not only the fear they felt, but also their hopes for the future.

On what is left of their city, Haitian artists are forgetting about the paintings they might have lost and are scavenging for oils, borrowing spaces, and making makeshift easels, just so that they can start painting and creating once again.

These artists are trying to show us that we must treasure our natural wealth, and fight deforestation. Houses and buildings might have crumbled from the effects of the earthquake, but the trees remained standing and intact, as they resisted. Those trees that remained standing are like a lesson to them and give them hope in the future.

It has now become evident that the Haitian earthquake destroyed many museums, galleries and other buildings that contained the country’s artistic treasures, so there are some who are desperately trying to save what can be rescued.

Haitians usually like to paint using primary colors, but nowhere are they more effective that in After Shock, a painting by Mosera. It is a depiction of the horrors of January 12th, that turned Port-au-Prince into a massive graveyard. Hell could not have more red than this painting.

Mosera has transformed all the grief and sorrow of this end of the world kind of drama into a statement of solidarity and universal empathy.

Almost every face in the painting is looking upwards towards the sky, as if asking God "why?". The survivors cry, mouth open, tears and dirt dried up on their awe-stricken faces.

At one end of the canvas, a man clutches a cellular phone to his ear, screaming into it for help or simply informing some relative that he's alive.

At the other end, is the figure of Christ nailed to the cross, with the text Way to El Dorado floating nearby.

The main figure in After Shock is a tall man, pushing a wheel-barrow full of injured, dying and dead victims of the earthquake. The only siren is his anguished wailing and the howling dogs. Mosera succeeds in turning Haiti's tragedy into a personal experience for all. We are in this together, we have all become Haitians in what seems to be the end of the world.