Libera

Libera is the transformative aspect of mourning; transitioning the departed from the physical world to the invisible world or the world of spirits. Libera recounts the family lineage and ensures that those who pass do not pass alone, but rather pass being escorted by the lineage. Throughout the ceremony, the names of passed family members are cited; lending memory to them and connecting those who have passed to those who are newly passed. A refrain is repeated “tout passe, tout passe tout passe” acknowledging that all that exist shall pass one day. The intervention in this painting is a combination of a dream where both my father and my father’s younger brother were fetching water at our family village in Haiti and the libera rights for them after their passing in 2023. The photos are of the libera where offerings and ceremonies are performed. Documenting the village with its trees, its houses, its daily life and how it celebrates its protectives spirits and what newness comes between the physical world and the spirit world or the invisible world.