DIRI PEYI (MONOLITH), sculpture, 2013

A vertical stack of locally grown and processed Haitian rice was installed at the Ghetto Biennale and gradually dismantled as residents took the bags.

The rice was purchased at a farmers’ market in Saint-Marc, transported by public bus to Port-au-Prince, and repackaged into smaller units. These were stacked into a monolithic form in the courtyard of the E. Pluribus Unum Musée d’Art. The pink and blue tones of the bags echo the colors of the Haitian flag, washed out to a pale register. Over the next few days, the rice was taken by local residents, undoing the piece.

This project is informed by the economic conditions shaping Haitian agriculture. Following Haiti's 1994 coup d'état and subsequent reduction of import tariffs, local production was undercut by the influx of cheaper foreign goods, contributing to long-term dependency and food insecurity. This shift produced a paradox in which locally grown staples circulate as premium goods within their own context.

Diri Peyi translates these conditions into sculptural form. The stacked units function simultaneously as commodity, resource, and monument, holding within them the labor and imbalance that structure their value. The work does not represent these dynamics from a distance; it reorganizes them spatially, allowing material and context to articulate their own tensions.

A collaboration with Ryan Groendyk (USA), Chery Jerry Reginald (Haiti), Hughens Féquière (Haiti), Joel Pierre (Haiti) and Laforèt Roselord (Haiti). Photography by Lazaros (USA).