Profile
Art by Petrouchka
Through the works of Petrouchka, "The wood tells whereas the canvas questions. The word declares whereas the silk feels. The face reflects whereas the body discovers." I am an artist because art is the first lens that I apply to the world around me. Before I understood myself, art was a bridge in connecting my changing landscapes. I have always reacted and interacted with color to define the context of my understanding.
In my beginning, the medium that discovered me was acrylic on wood. The spirit of the wood speaks to me. My method is to respect the wood by following the grain to reveal the images that the wood is narrating. As the story unfolds, the grain changes; therefore, I must also change using colors and hues. When I work with wood, the grain tells me how to flow, bringing out what is already there. Through my paintings, I became more of a storyteller in my process.
After a severe car accident in 2012, I lost my ability to see colors, connect with the world around me, or even have the confidence to pick up a brush. As I learned to regain my perspective, art is the source of my continued healing. My art helps me cope with anxiety, PTSD, communicate my thoughts, and find joy in redefining myself.
Silk painting created the next chapter in my journey. Just as the wood, the silk takes me on a journey of color and collaboration. Through silk, the conversation of the wood is re-interpreted. The silk gave me back my confidence and allowed me to transition to canvases where I permitted myself to question. Having art back in my life allowed me to acclimate to my new-normal and embrace my process of being a survivor of traumatic brain injury (TBI).
In 2016, I suffered a greater tragedy… the sudden loss of my youngest child, Kaiya "Soskii" Smith, a rising youth-slam artist and designer. Kaiya played a pivotal role in my recovery. She always encouraged me to be the creative that I was born to be, and we gave each other space to grow as women and as artists. In her honor and our love for learning, I challenged my grief with my creativity.
Now, as I continue to discover myself in whatever medium or materials I use, they talk, I listen. They direct, I process. They pose. I paint. They bless. I sign.
Dr. Petrouchka Moïse is a Haitian artist/scholar born in the Diaspora, whose parents came to the United States in exile. Her origin story begins in Brooklyn, New York. Learning to overcome language and cultural barriers, "Having been treated as an outsider, I understand how important it is for an individual to have a sense of ownership in their identity and their rights to express their truths."
The feeling of exclusion ended when she came to present at a conference in 2001. She fell in love with the city of New Orleans and relocated to Louisiana a year later. Louisiana's cultural richness was a perfect match for her core values of cultural leadership and community service.
As a creative, Petrouchka’s artwork investigates the search for identity through the mediums of resin, wood, word, and water. She is Louisiana's first graduate with a Doctor of Design in Cultural Preservation from Louisiana State University College of Art + Design. Dr. Petrouchka Moïse is currently a 2020 CLIR/Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Data Curation for Haitian Visual Arts. She works jointly with the Grinnell College Library and the Waterloo Center for the Arts and plays a central role in coordinating the Haitian Art Digital Crossroads (HADC) Project.
In her studio, Dr. Moise is currently working on a group of paintings and sculptures inspired by her late daughter, Kaiya “Soskii” Smith, a youth slam-poet. Petrouchka’s goal is to continue her studies and work with others in art, culture, and education.
“The wood tells whereas the canvas questions. The word declares whereas the silk feels. The face reflects whereas the body discovers, and space allows for experience”