The spiritual bounties of Myrlande Constant’s Iwa are rendered in sequins, embellishments, beads, and decorative tambour, that reflect the role these spirits play in our daily lives. Myrlande Constant has said that she is guided by her Iwa, or her spiritual guides and intermediaries, in creating the compositions of her works. As a young woman, Myrlande Constant took up a formal Haitian art form known as drapo, or “flags” depicting Iwa, which later became the basis of her art practice. While the original art form primarily addresses the spiritual realm, Myrlande Constant often connects the spiritual realm with everyday life, emphasizing the interconnection between the sacred and the earthly. This is Myrlande Constant’s first participation in the Bienal de São Paulo.

The lush compositions form landscapes of historical scenes and fabulatory, spiritual spaces. From a level of method, while the original art form is traditionally rendered solely in sequins and textiles, Myrlande Constant has centered the use of beads and tambourine in her rich compositions. These elements allow Constant to imbue small details into the figures, expanding the theoretical capacities of the embellished scenes. Her compositions usually involve a frame of tambour stitches, representing symbols, offerings, and sacred objects. Her composition features a central figure or scene, and as the eye wanders, one finds an infinite sequence of symbols peppered across the painting.

To achieve these intricate works, Myrlande Constant must stretch the cloth over a frame, and stitch with the panel upside down, meaning that she cannot see her progress until she flips the work. She can only feel the sequins with the tip of her fingers. Given the size of many of her compositions, some works are created by a team of over a dozen artists working simultaneously. Yet these lush paintings are unique among the drapo tradition, bringing a feminine gaze to an art form that was almost exclusively practiced among men. Myrlande Constant becomes a vessel, a theorist, and a historian, articulating stories from one realm to the other. Her works reflect cosmologies, both seen and unseen, that anchor Haitian spiritual life.