Copyright The New York Times
As a child in New York in the ’80s and ’90s, Patrick Eugène felt like being Haitian wasn’t something to be proud of. Growing up, he heard stories of how his mother, who emigrated from the island nation at the age of 12, was bullied for the way she spoke and dressed. Hoping to shield himself from similar experiences, he tried to mask his ancestry. But in high school, he said, he was drawn to a club for Haitian students. There, he learned about his history and was soon wearing the Haitian flag to school in a show of pride. A few years later, he traveled to Haiti with his now-wife, who had also moved to the United States at 12, and fell in love. “When you go there and you dive into the culture more and you meet the people, you realize they are the most elegant people,” he said. “They are so elegant and so prideful. It doesn’t matter what they have and what they don’t have. They are going to treat it like it’s gold and they’re going to walk around with this confidence that’s unmatched.” Now, Eugène — whose works will be on display at the Mariane Ibrahim Gallery during Art Basel in Paris this month — highlights the Haitian and Haitian American experience in his paintings. At a moment when immigrants, and Haitians in particular, are a target of President Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies, his art has taken on a poignant relevance. (Trump’s history of deriding Haitians includes sharing debunked rumors in a 2024 debate with Kamala Harris that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating household pets. In June, his administration banned people from Haiti who did not already have existing visas from entering the United States, despite an ongoing crisis of gang violence, displacement, food shortages and a lack of essential services, which recently prompted the U.N. Security Council to authorize a new multinational Gang Suppression Force there.) Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
