This publication was developed in conjunction with Haitian Canadian artist Manuel Mathieu’s exhibitions Survivance, curated by Sylvie Lacerte, organized and presented by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, September 17, 2020–March 28, 2021, and World Discovered Under Other Skies, curated by Amin Alsaden, and organized, circulated, and presented by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, September 26, 2020–January 3, 2021.

Mathieu is known for vibrant, colourful paintings that seamlessly merge abstraction with figuration. His work reflects on our intertwined lives, in which the boundaries between the past and present or the personal and political are often blurred. Sharing recollections that depict everyday scenes, Mathieu also blends into his canvases an interrogation of the complex history of his familial homeland, Haiti. By unearthing the traumas of state violence, he addresses issues that remain as urgent today as they have been throughout Haitian history. Positioned at the fault lines of modern political and environmental crises, Haiti epitomizes a global longing for liberation and for grassroots resistance to imperialist and capitalist exploits.

The publication features reproductions of Mathieu’s exhibitions at The Power Plant and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, including paintings, drawings, and ceramics. These images accompany a foreword by The Power Plant’s Director and Artistic Director Gaëtane Verna, texts by Survivance exhibition curator Sylvie Lacerte and World Discovered Under Other Skies curator Amin Alsaden, essays from Osei Bonsu, Joana Joachim, and Edwidge Danticat, and an interview between Manuel Mathieu and Gaëtane Verna.

Product Information

Editor: Gaëtane Verna & The Power Plant

Designer: Irma Boom

Publisher: The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery

Year: 2022

Pages: 120

Illustrations: Colour