Haiti - Hand and rod puppet

His face is a combination of two men I met while on a trip to Haiti. One was an artist and a very spiritual man who exuded love, compassion and joy. His head was like a lions, surrounded by a halo of rasta hair. This was a person of integrity with strong personal presence. The other man was dull and unscrupulous. He presented himself as 'a guide' and walked my partner and I around a 4-block radius so that we might tip him for his help as we looked for the building we had already been standing in front of when he arrived. Even among the Haitians we met, this second man was regarded poorly.

As the puppet head took shape, the features of both these men appeared beneath my fingers. I was surprised to see them merged in the same face and realized that Haiti was all about polarity of the human condition. From the highest vibration of the human spirit, to the lowest. He also melds male and female united in one. One can see his breasts peek from his dress and below it, I've sculpted a penis to be used as a handle.

Haiti has shamanic qualities. The heartbeat of something primal and dark. He is unsettling on some level. Just as the country was to me.