Haitian Boat People towed off Miami Beach

Artist Erick Avery (American, born 1948)

Date1990

Mediumlinocut

DimensionsImage: 18 3/8 x 13 5/8 in. (46.7 x 34.6 cm)
Support: 20 1/4 x 15 3/4 in. (51.4 x 40 cm)
Mat: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)

ClassificationsGraphic

Credit LineGift of Marjorie Devon, 2012

Object number2012.22.1

DescriptionSingle-color (black) impression of a sinking ship with Haitian refugees struggling to save themselves from drowning and from the two sharks who circle the boat. In the background in the skyline of Miami Beach. A Coast Guard boat pulls the boat to shore as sea serpents occupy the water in the distance.
eMuseum Notes

Emuseum Notes

Eric Avery is an artist and doctor whose artwork deals with medical issues, human rights, and social responses to disease, especially HIV/AIDS. He spent some time working internationally in crisis zones, including Somalia, which have impacted his perspective on human rights issues that has infused his work. Avery has returned on several occasions to the theme of the flight of Haitians from their home country, traveling by boats or makeshift vessels in an attempt to reach the United States for political asylum or economic opportunity. These journeys were very perilous and passengers often died en route. This image invokes Gericault’s 1818-1819 painting The Raft of the Medusa, and at the same time alludes to printmaking’s long association with political activism.

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