Exchange of Culture (Between Indians and African Maroons), Ulrick Jean-Pierre

“My canvas is an open window of constant celebration that allows me to travel into the depths of the past, to bring pride to the present, as well as hope to the future.” – Ulrick Jean-Pierre
Here, a Taíno Indian and a Maroon slave play the drum. Interactions like this may have taken place in Maroon societies where surviving Natives and runaway slaves lived independently. Through the visual exploration of this interaction, Jean-Pierre celebrates the Indigenous communities who lived in Haiti before colonization. The name “Haiti,” chosen by former slaves after
the revolution, is a Taíno word meaning “mountainous land.” By selecting a native word to represent their newly liberated country, these former slaves symbolically rebuked the colonial claims of Europe that sought to destroy the Taíno and enslave Africans.