Trailer for The Sculptors of Grand Rue
Available on the DVD 'Iron in the Soul: The Haiti Documentary Films of Leah Gordon'. Soul Jazz Records/Films.
soundsoftheuniverse.com/releases/?id=43097
Grand Rue is the main avenue that runs through downtown Port au Prince, Haiti. At its southern end is a community that has a historical tradition of arts, crafts and religious practice. Contemporary Haitian artists Celeur, Eugène, Claude and Guyodo all grew up in this ghetto atmosphere of junkyard make-do and artistic endeavour. Their powerful sculptural collages of have transformed the detritus of a failing economy into bold, radical and warped sculptures. Their work references their shared African & Haitian cultural heritage, a dystopian sci-fi view of the future and the transformative act of assemblage. The monumental works they have created are liberally scattered around this slum area, transforming the clamorous area into an organic art installation. This multi-layered film is a portrait of a neighbourhood both materially poor but culturally rich, and a meditation of the links between sex, death and creativity as expressed through the Vodou spirit Gede, that influences all their work. (2008)
This film was made in 2008 when all the artists were part of Atis Rezistans but currently only Andre Eugene and Claude Saintilus remain in the group and Guydo and Celeur Jean-Herard are independent of the group.
2009 April:: Puerto Rico Ethnographic Film Festival (prize winner), San Juan
2009 May:: World Nomads Film Festival, Maysles Institute, Harlem NY
2009 June:: Mercredis, Musee de l'Homme, Paris
2012 Sept:: In Extremis, Fowler Museum, UCLA, USA
2012:: Kafou: Haiti, Art & Vodou, Nottingham Contemporary, UK
2012:: Taboo, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
