Rejin Leys, “Contemporary Haitian American Art: The Work of Rejin Leys”
Date:    April 12
Time:    4:00 pm
Place:   L150 Elvehjem
Workshops and/or class visits TBA.
Co-sponsored by the Department of French and Italian, LACIS, African Diaspora and the Atlantic World Research Circle, Visual Culture, and the Art History Department.
Organizer: Guillermina De Ferrari

Rejin Leys is a Haitian-American mixed-media and book artist. She received a BFA from Parson’s School of Design in 1988 and an MFA from Brooklyn College in 2000. Her books, prints, drawings and installations explore such themes as labor, migration, and social and environmental justice. Leys participated in such artists’ collectives as Coast-to-Coast, National women artists of Color, and Kouran, a New York based group of young Haitian artists. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.

Rejin Leys’s work combines social and political commentary with an exploration of materials and techniques not usually seen in traditional Haitian art. In this presentation, we will look at this work in the context of works by Haitian and other African diaspora artists.