A Strange Bath
Vladimir Cybil Charlier, American, born 1967
2015
Screenprint on chine collé
13/18
Image: 25 × 17 in. (63.5 × 43.2 cm)
Sheet: 22 × 30 in. (55.9 × 76.2 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased in Honor of Tatiana Reinoza, Society of Fellows Postdoctoral Research Associate and Lecturer, Dartmouth College, 2016-2019, by the Department of Art History and the Hood Museum of Art through the Julia L. Whittier Fund
2019.59
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
21st century
Object Name
Research Area
On view
Inscriptions
Signed, titled, and dated, in graphite, lower right margin: “Strange Bath” V. Cybil – 2015; inscribed, in graphite, lower left corner: 13/18
Label
The island of Quisqueya, now known as Hispaniola, hangs suspended on a rope tied around its middle. The rope acts as a rupture that amplifies the 240-mile border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti and gestures to the fragmented and intertwined histories of these two countries.
In September 2013, the Dominican Republic Constitutional Court issued a ruling, La Sentencia, that retroactively revoked birthright citizenship, leaving an estimated 200,000 Dominican citizens of Haitian descent stateless.
To further deter Haitian immigration, the Dominican Republic has since militarized its border and enacted policies imposing limits on migration. Referencing Billy Holiday’s song “Strange Fruit” in the work’s title, Haitian American artist Vladimir Charlier creates a visual nexus for the often-racialized migration histories of the United States, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti.
From the 2024 exhibition [Un]Mapping: Decolonial Cartographies of Place, curated by Beatriz Yanes Martinez, Hood Museum Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow, Curatorial and Exhibitions
Course History
LACS 80.02/AAAS 90.01/GOVT 84.06, Identity and Power, Lisa Baldez, Winter 2022
Art History 40.05, Latino Studies 12.01, Print the Revolution, Mary Coffey, Spring 2023
Art History 40.03, Latin American and Caribbean Studies 20.11, Art and Politics in Latin America, Mary Coffey, Fall 2023
Art History 40.03, Latin American and Caribbean Studies 20.11, Art and Politics in Latin America, Mary Coffey - OPEN HOURS, Fall 2023
Art History 40.03, Latin American and Caribbean Studies 20.11, Art and Politics in Latin America, Mary Coffey - OPEN HOURS, Fall 2023
Art History 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2024
Exhibition History
[Un]Mapping: Decolonial Cartographies of Place, Harteveldt Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 8 -November 3, 2024.
Provenance
Coronado Print Studio, New York, New York; sold to present collection, 2019.
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