Danièle Mangonès
I was Born in Petion-Ville, Haiti in 1945 with an extremely rich heritage. I am a descendent from a family of poets, painters, lawyers, a president, historians and political activists.
In 1975 at the University of Berkeley, California, I organized an Afro-Haitian Happening - exhibiting Vodou Art, Instruments, Drums, sharing our music and “manje lwa” food for the spirit, with over 300 students and members of the community who attended. Also organized with one of Ismael Reed’s book signing, a Haitian Art Exhibit accompanied with Haitian food and music. On a monthly basis, Round table discussions were organized, also radio talk shows on Haitian Culture. In 1978, with the assistance of Dr. Marc Primus, Dr. Sheila Walker, and Vèvè Clark, wrote a proposal to put together in Oakland, California, a Vodou Museum. After much support from several grantors and the intellectual Black Community, family urgencies took us back to Haiti to live and work. In 1979, I opened a Gallery, Salon, Restaurant and small Guest House in Petion-ville: “Osiris” until 1984. Osiris shared with “Volta Place Gallery” in Georgetown, near D.C., Haitian Art and sculptures and we took our artists to the USA through donations of American Airlines and the Haitian Tourist Bureau . We met on a weekly basis around the “poto mitan” Center Post where people waited to be seated when they got to Osiris’ Restaurant – to have poetry readings, discuss politics and activism.
I studied Rural Communications in Costa Rica (1986) and put together a Rural Radio Program “Twa Pawòl” financed by USAID/IICA/Haiti which aired through Radio Haiti Inter every day 15 minutes and every Friday “Dyakout Chaje” for thirty minutes. The program delt with Animal Husbandry, Community Development, Radio Theater using skits from “Where there is no Doctors” and “Where there is no Dentists”. The program was compiled into 8 volumes in Haitian Kreyòl with all the scripts as they were read in the programs. IICA donated 500 copies to Mission Alpha (an alphabetization organization in Haiti) and one set of cassettes with one set of the scripts was donated to 4VEH Radio Station in Cap Haitian (who continued to air the program for many years after USAID’s funding ceased). For nineteen years, I Worked in Haiti’s rural areas in development and democracy enhancement programs.
I studied Afro-Haitian dance with the late Lavinia Williams and Lynn Williams Rouzier for over 20 years. In 1998 seven of my poems with some vèvès illustrating them appeared in Marie-Alice Theard’s 4 volume of 117 Haitian women writers “Haiti, La Voie de nos Silences”. This year, 4 of my poems appeared with over 85 Haitian women poets from Haiti and the Diaspora in Claudine Michel, Marlène Racine-Toussaint and Florence Bellande-Robertson’s “Brassage” an Anthology of Poems; published by Multicultural Women’s Presence, Inc. Miami, Florida & Center for Black Studies Research University of California, Santa Barbara.
I am an adept of the Vodou Religion and a manbo (a priestess (2/24/1979). I chose Vodou as a way of life which inspires me to create art, become more tolerant and share my time and energy with others. Through my art, I hope to shed some light and love from Haiti to the world.
