André Pierre, one of the giants of Haitian art, has joined the spirits. A houngan or vodou priest in the village of Croix-des-Missions, he became one of Haiti's greatest painters, considered by many the artistic heir to the houngan master painter, Hector Hyppolite. He was a farmer and an active vodou practitioner before being introduced to the Centre d'Art in the late 1940's by film-maker Maya Deren, who had admired his temple wall paintings and decorated gourd bowls. He devoted his painting career to visualizing and honoring the loas of the vodou pantheon

Issa was not a painter himself (although he was a very talented musician and bandleader), but nevertheless was one of the most important figures in Haitian art over the last fifty years. Starting in the early fifties he sold Haitian art out of a restaurant, a department store, a gallery and finally his Port-au-Prince home.

We received the news that UNESCO had named Twins Seven-Seven its Artist for Peace for 2005. The award was presented by the Director-General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura at a ceremony in Paris on May 25th, 2005. The ceremony was attended by His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Chairperson of the African Union.

MINHAZZ MAJUMDAR (Craft Revival Trust, 2004)