Let There Be Light: Shrine Goes To Haiti : Cartwheel Art

Let There Be Light: Shrine Goes To Haiti

Posted by Lisa Derrick

We at CARTWHEEL love Shrine. His works are spectacular constructions built from discarded objects, bringing new awareness through reclaiming materials. His work shows us how to find the beauty and usefulness in everything around us. From Joshua Tree to Coachella and Lightening in a Bottle, to other international locations like India and Kenya, Shrine has created sublime, spiritual constructions which we fell in love with. His newest project: Let There Be Light: Shrine Edition, set to begin in February, 2014 in Haiti.

Haiti holds a special place for CARTWHEEL: Our founder Cindy Schwarzstein spent time there as a child and it was through her parents’ art gallery in Jacmel, Haiti that she developed her love of art. Others at CARTWHEEL have a link with Haiti through the country’s spiritual practices, so the mixture of Shrine with Haiti intrigued us, and we are proud to be this event’s media sponsor.

Haiti is still recovering from the devastating January 2010 earthquake, and since the earthquake, builders, innovators and organizers working with Project HOPE Art assemble at the Haiti Communitere eco-base to fan out their ingenuity. These visionaries create new solutions (and celebrations) in poor Haitian neighborhoods.

This upcoming year for 2014’s Kanavale (carnival season), lead artist Shrine On with Do Art Foundation, performers with Cuddle the World from Lucent Dossier, and Burners without Borders are heading to Haiti’s capital, Port au Prince, to assemble a sculpture from reclaimed materials and create performances and art with children in the impoverished community of Cite Soleil, as part of Project HOPE Art’s ongoing mission in Haiti.

Shrine’s installation will be installed at the RAJEPRE School, home to 100 school children who would otherwise not attend school or receive an education in one of the hardest hit and poorest neighborhoods, Cité Soleil. Run by Jeremy Winter Delaplane, this is the only school in Cite Soleil.

Let There Be Light: Shrine Edition has spots for ten eco-tourists to join the artists and performers in a once in a lifetime experience working with Shrine and the students, creating dance, drumming, and art workshops with the students and creating a performance with the girls of OJCA Orphanage. Plus, there’s Kanavale, a celebration of merriment with roots that go back long into history.