Myrlande Constant: Drapo

Ann C Collins | The Brooklyn Rail | 1st March 2023

Before art, Constant made wedding dresses. Those embroidery skills were redeployed when she began making drapo Vodous, Haitian flags that traditionally depict ethnic or religious symbols. Portraits and genre scenes glitter with sequins, tassels, ribbons and beads, making figures “sway and dance “. This is trailblazing art, says one critic, taking the drapo tradition and “blowing it open into a narrative art”. “Pictorial magnificence“ says another; it belongs “on the walls of major museums”.