"If my work triggers something that would lead a person to have an inside look at humanity, to question the human condition, then something great has occurred. "

The many places that have been home to Marie-Denise Douyon have given shape to her inner creative landscape-from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, her birthplace; to her childhood home of Morocco; to study in the US; to her present home in Montreal.

"I would put myself in the category of figurative artist", explains Douyon. "Recently, I've been most interested in the engraving process. I was mostly painting women from the Caribbean and at one point, I got tired of it; it had become almost automatic. I wanted to break away from that so I took an engraving course. I've been using monotypes, mostly because I have wanted to do one unique piece using different media; inks, coloured pencils, waxes and what not. I needed to get away from traditional tools, of using the brushes and charcoals. And engraving gave me that possibility."

Her intensity about art, strangely, is not at odds with her gentle easy character. Although the woman and the artist must be intertwined, her demeanour at times belies the inner churning passion obvious in her works. I have a need to paint, to create. I think it's more away of expressing your feelings and dealing with everyday life, fears, love, all of the different feelings that human beings share. "

Much of her work has a core of womanliness, and indeed, she admits to a fascination about women and I think it's the most central theme in my work thus far. Women keep on reappearing. It's my way of showing the courage of Caribbean women as the central pole of the house, business, society."

Chritiana Abraham
Panache Magazine
April-May 2000