In November 2023, Haitian American artist Didier William was interviewed by Julián Sánchez González on behalf of the MoMA. Part of the discussion centered on the artist's recent work, including the present lot, about which William shared the following reflection:
It is interesting to think about imagining alternative states of being for anyone whose body has been criminalized, and not just in the context of the Caribbean, but for those of us who have tried to occupy bodies that have not been able to live freely in real time. A piece of mine, Kisa n’ap fe ansamn, which means “what we would make together,” comes to mind. This is a painting that I finished around November of 2019, when my husband and I were expecting our daughter, with the help of a surrogate, which was a moment when I was thinking a lot about the union that was bringing this new person into the world. There was a beautiful way in which our bodies and the surrogate’s body had to transgress the conventions assigned to them and bring this new life into being. This sat with me for a long time and I thought about how I wanted to make a painting about it. But knowing how I work, I wasn’t going to sit my husband down and make a portrait of him or me. So, what came to mind was these two figures joined at the arms and the legs, and in the center was this glowing heart-shaped energy—one of the most sentimental paintings I’ve made. It reflected the same idea—of the body moving beyond itself and doing something for itself, its perpetuity, its futurity.
One of the joys for me is layering as much information into the paintings as possible, and allowing my viewer to excavate any part of that they wish.
Didier William
Didier William b. 1983
Haitian-American artist Didier William was born in Port-au-Prince in 1983, but he grew up in Miami. William earned a BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA in painting and printmaking from Yale University School of Art. His mixed-media compositions explore themes of Blackness and identity, drawing on experiences as an immigrant to the United States. Williams' works combine abstraction and figuration with elements of oil painting, acrylic, collage, and printmaking. Through this multidisciplinary approach, William reflects on intersections of self and culture, often incorporating proverbs and testimonies in Haitian Kreyòl.
William's paintings challenge traditional notions of race, gender, and aesthetics, aiming to reclaim autonomy over personal and collective histories. His use of androgynous human figures with carved eyes both confronts viewers and invites them to engage with the complexities of immigrant narratives as well as the power dynamics of the gaze. William creates topographic terrains within his paintings, revealing multiple layers of meaning.
Works by William have been exhibited internationally and acquired by prestigious institutions like the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Among several honors, Williams has received the Morris Louis Award for Excellence in Painting and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award in Art. He previously taught at the Yale School of Art and Columbia University. Currently, Williams is an Assistant Professor of Expanded Print at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.
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