(New York) Diplomats and employees of the United Nations will not be able to escape it: until June 17, they will walk through part of the written and drawn work of Dany Laferrière, coming and going in this building where all the tragedies of the international community.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
According to the writer, they will come out “whistling” after realizing that people continue to create “at the heart of these disasters”. This will be a rare case to bring them a “wind of freshness”.
“I actually believe that this is the happiest dossier we have ever presented to the UN,” declared Dany Laferrière, shortly before going to the headquarters of the international organization in New York, where took place on Monday evening the opening of the exhibition A nomadic heartwhich tells the life of the artist.
“And this dossier says this: art is at the heart of all human transformation. If we don’t think that, we will never get there. Negotiations, figures, documents, surveys, studies are only important if we take into account that people have feelings, emotions. And here is in color, in writing, in poetry and in reflection the file of this region of the world where we believe that things are played, where we believe that all is lost. »
In short, if the UN diplomats manage to find solutions to almost irreducible problems in the coming days, A nomadic heart may be there for something.
The exhibition was launched in 2020 in Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles, on the occasion of Dany Laferrière’s 35-year career. Composed in its original version of seven separate paintings, it is inspired by three illustrated novels by Dany Laferrière and traces his life, from his childhood in Haiti to the French Academy in Paris, through his years in Montreal and Miami.
After Montreal, A nomadic heart began to travel, first to Frankfurt, where the exhibition was a great success in 2021 during the Book Fair in this German city, when Canada was the guest of honor, then to Tunis and Finally in Dubai.
Composed of five paintings, the version of the exhibition presented at the UN is the result of a collaboration between the diplomatic representatives of Quebec and Canada in New York, as well as the International Organization of La Francophonie.
PHOTO RICHARD HÉTU, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Dany Laferrière at the opening of his exhibition at the UN
” Very moving “
“It’s very touching and moving to think that every morning, on entering work, delegates from different countries will come across the work of a Quebecer of Haitian origin,” said Martine Hébert, Quebec’s Delegate General in New York. . “This once again underlines the importance of Quebec’s footprint in New York City. »
The diplomat of Congolese origin Nelly Okonco was touched and moved on Monday evening by the text and drawing by Dany Laferrière who “imagines [sa] mother turning her back on reality to sink into dreams” after her father’s exile.
It brings back a lot of memories and melancholy. I knew that very early, this separation with my mother. And I also imagine him turning his back on reality to sink into a dream.
Nelly Okoncom, diplomat of Congolese origin
Dany Laferrière dreams of seeing A nomadic heart continue to travel. In Miami, in Paris and, why not, in Port-au-Prince. He sees the adventure of this exhibition as a “gift”. And also, we must believe, as a reward for his obstinacy in creating illustrated novels.
“I don’t want to compare myself to Dylan, but I kind of thought about him when people, at first, didn’t accept that way,” he said. Why don’t you keep writing books like you used to? We also attacked Dylan when he switched from acoustic guitar to electric guitar. It is the same people after who cheer. He had to persist. That’s it, I persisted. I now have 6 books and 1200 pages written and drawn. »