“The Haitians Montage – A Dream Deferred” consists of three color and monochromatic and paper collage on canvas paintings chronicling the experience of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, as well as what they left behind.
The series has earned Conner significant attention in local art circles. He is gratified that his storytelling is reaching a wider audience, especially as the local Haitian community returns to the national spotlight following a judge’s order to extend Temporary Protected Status.
“I needed to express this artistically,” said Conner. “I just want the story to be told.”
An artist all his life, Conner started as a child in Baltimore drawing on different surfaces all over his house and near it – from planes in the sky to buses on the street and a church on the corner. He ended up in Ohio, living in Toledo, Columbus, Bellefontaine, Marysville and now in Springfield, where he’s stayed for seven years.
He was curious about a building in downtown Springfield and found it was the Hatch Artist Studios, where he now has his own space and meets with the public during the building’s open houses on First Fridays.
Other current events have also influenced Conner’s art. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he met a nurse who was traumatized by what she’d dealt with and that opened up a new avenue for his art as a storyteller.
“That’s when I realized I found value - I was always thinking about current events,” Conner said.
As the pandemic waned, thousands of Haitian refugees fled to Springfield and other communities around the country to escape the violence and turmoil in their home country under TPS. In his job as a driver for a local organization, Conner met a Haitian man – whose name he chose not to reveal – who he became friends with.
He observed other Haitians at local stores and places around town. He also heard the negative views some expressed about Haitians and recalled his own past.
“Being an African American child of the ‘60s during Jim Crow, I wanted to be of service. I met Haitian people and they were nice, kind and stuck to themselves, but I also saw the negative spotlight,” Conner said.
He maintained the friendship with the man and said the tipping point was when the misinformation about the Haitian people eating pets spread nationally.
Seeing a hate group protesting here in his own neighborhood only added to Conner’s resolve to respond, again drawing on his past.
“I saw a hate group in Toledo when I lived there that made me very upset then,” he said. “I saw whites only signs when I was a child when my dad took me to the south. I’ve been racially profiled. I was very upset - I thought how dare you show up.”
Conner captured race relation issues with a previous painting, “Black Wall Street,” an award-winning painting depicting a 1921 Tulsa, Oklahoma, incident of racial violence.
The first painting in “The Haitian Montage” depicts his friend against a background of the violence of Haiti he left, places in Springfield and the national attention the community received.
The second work, a black-and-white piece titled “Homeland Security,” begins with cheerful scenes of Springfield before turning stark as it depicts a deportation letter received by his friend and the looming threat of ICE.
The third and latest in the series is entitled “Haiti in Chaos,” another black and white piece showing horrific images he researched about the violence. The only touch of color is red, symbolizing blood.
Although Conner isn’t sure what will happen to his Haitian friend, he’s grateful for having met him and sharing his point of view through art.
As the events continue in the Haitian story in the U.S., Conner plans to continue adding paintings to “The Haitians Montage – A Dream Deferred” series.
“I’m an artist and storyteller and want this story that’s way bigger than me to be told,” he said. “I wanted people to know about the paintings, to see the paintings and have a conversation, an outlet to talk.
“This is America. We shouldn’t be dealing with this. I think of myself as an artist and journalist at the same time and my art is passion to me.”
For more information about Nathan Conner’s art, visit tinyurl.com/4w5krwzs.
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