Oil on canvas
In this work, Civil depicts a young shoe-shine boy with his head resting in folded arms. His face is completely covered by his arms. He is shirtless and shoeless, his ribcage is prominent. A rat sniffs at the boy’s barefoot. Behind him sits a pile of wooden boards all pointing in various vertical directions; his baseball cap and shoes, tied by their laces, are hung on the boards. In his back pocket rests a deck of cards, the King of Hearts is visible. This poignant and melancholy portrait does not shy away from the devastating effects of poverty in Haiti. For many people unfamiliar with Haiti, this painting may confirm the stereotypes in their minds about life in Haiti while many other paintings in this exhibit work to dispel those stereotypes. For this artist, Didier Civil, why might it be important to continue to depict scenes of poverty, despite worries that it may confirm a global audience’s stereotypes?
Artist Bio: Didier Civil was born in 1973 in Jacmel. He began to draw at an early age. By 1990 he was exhibiting in various galleries in Jacmel. In 1994, Civil’s work was included in a book and a New York exhibition of the Jonathan Demme collection in entitled Island of Fire.
Civil is a shrewd observer of the Haitian culture and frequently focuses on its underside, calling attention to the plight of the less fortunate such as street kids and homeless families. He also paints vodou subjects, seeming to favor the Gede family, the spirits associated with the afterlife.
