Pierrot Barra, Haitian Artist
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Pierrot was blessed with mad talent. He was capable of utilizing what everyone else trashed to create unimaginable representation of voodoo spirits, which heavily influenced his work. He literally collected anything he came across to do his art. Pierrot Barra used beads, sequins, crosses, shiny metallic parts and charms to finish his work, which consisted of representations assembled from plastic, rubber, fabric, dolls and toys.
It is beyond any reasonable doubt that he adored voodoo spirits and hence his passion for images that brought out one or more elements of these spirits. The representations were multicolored, ugly and scary. There is one in which Pierrot Barra uses different media to create an image of Baron/Dambala. Up the body of this spirit ascends a black snake, which opens up its mouth to display dangerous fangs right on the face of Baron. Baron’s face is indeed unattractive to stare at and sends a chill up the spines of many who are not accustomed to voodoo stuff.
Pierrot Barra passed away in 1999 at the age of 57 years, leaving behind a widow who continued with his legacy in the market. One is highly unlikely to come across his work, bearing in mind that his sculptures were looted from a museum where he had stored them by angry religious extremists who then proceeded to burn them in 1994. This was after the ousting and the exile of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide. The work of Pierrot and Marie has been demonstrated in “Vodou Things,” a book authored by Donald Consentino.
