The Akan Calabash : An Offering of Words and Colour

The Rivière-des-Prairies cultural center presents The Akan Calabash: An offering of words and colour, an exhibition produced during a one- year stay in Benin, by Montreal based Haitian Marie-Denise Douyon.

Marie-Denise Douyon's most recent figurative artwork features drawings, paintings and sculptures on engraved and painted calabash, mounted on metal frames. Inspired by proverbs, fables, images and songs of African and American oral tradition, these works present a fascinating parallel between visual and oral traditions as well as contemporary art and Haitian metal handicraft techniques.

Artwork of the senses combined with sacred, divine and humorous knowledge of thousands of years creates works of varied and multicultural signification. The Akan Calabash illuminates knowledges and universal wisdoms of men, women and children from traditional societies that resonate renewed truths in the heart of contemporary society.

Claude Toupin, February 2002

Translation : Christiane Abraham