04/06/2026
Title: Rezilta
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 30”x40”
Artist: Baker Joseph
This painting illustrates a young boy sitting on the street while he should be in school. Instead, this young boy is in great ponder and reflection of the foreshadow of his future depicted below. In his left hand, you will find a rag covered in blood; this rag soaks the blood of people’s lives that have been sacrificed through armed and gun violence in the community.
Fifteen years later, you find the same boy evolved into a man identified by society as a “chimè” wreaking havoc in the community through gun violence and rebellious acts like burning tires. This painting heeds to the notion that rebels are socially constructed artifacts of society. This boy represents the hundreds of youths that have evolved into insurgents due to the negligence of society and the absence of opportunity, school, work, and positive outlets.
This young boy, over time, transcends into the villain of his local community, not because of what he did but rather what the country failed to do. Society’s failure to create a safe space where youth can grow, learn, and feel protected is a critical factor in the success of every young boy and girl. The gun in the background of the hourglass symbolizes the necessity of gun control laws, regulations, and implications needed to protect the nation and the upcoming youth in Haiti. Governmental entities should administer regulatory measures and create more policies to prevent or restrict the possession or use of guns, particularly fi****ms, out of the hands of youths.
In essence, both spectrums of the hourglass reveal society’s lack in the cultivation of young men and women of tomorrow. The hourglass in the painting is a testament to time’s effects and how nothing truly operates out of time. It unmasks the nation’s state, calls forth accountability, and challenges the biases of what we call a “chimè” or what causes people to become “rebels” of a country. Time is the catalyst to the future of thef youth in Haiti; how we choose to respond to this will ultimately be the rezilta of a society.
