Animated Series

The Story of Myrlande Constant
Little Stories of Great Women Artists
06.07.2023

Little Stories of Great Women Artists is an original project of playful and educational animated videos for children from the age of 7 and older.The objective of each episode? To shed light on the life and work of a woman artist from the 19th or 20th century in a three-minutes video. Imagined by screenwriter Sophie Caron, each story conveys the originality of an artist’s approach, their importance within an artistic movement, certain significant biographical stories, as well as difficulties that the artist may have encountered in her practice.

In a landscape where children’s publications and activities about art privilege male artists, this new and unique project intends for younger audiences to be able to identify important figures beyond all gender stereotypes. Through the discovery of these women artists, we hope to invite as many people as possible to discover the emotion that art can bring.

This new episode takes us to Haiti, and more precisely to Port-au-Prince where artist Myrlande Constant lives.

Born in 1968, she learned tambour stitching as a teenager by working alongside her mother in a wedding dress factory. At the age of 20, she decided to open her own workshop with the help of her mother and former workers, to create drapos, spiritual objects of the voodoo religion and true works of art.

Until Myrlande Constant’s arrival on the island’s artistic scene, it was a practice most often carried out by men. Her drapos vodou are now seen as emblems of this little-known religion that is often subject to stereotypes. In fact, it is Myrlande Constant who opened up this practice to all: inspired by her success, several women followed in her footsteps and founded their own workshops.

This film was produced by AWARE as part of the “The Origin of Others. Rewriting Art History in the Americas, 19th Century – Today” project.

Coordination : Mathilde de Croix with the AWARE team.
Screenwriter: Sophie Caron.
Illustrator: Louise Nelson.
Sound and image Editor: Hugo July.
Voice: Melha Mammeri Bossard.

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