Laurena Finéus's paintings begin in the landscapes of flight. Her practice is rooted in the Haitian migration crisis that has persisted since the 1980s, and in the deeper history of Marronage — the act of escape from slavery that made Maroons the first Black freedom fighters in the Americas. She sees continuous thinking patterns between those fugitive geographies and the migrations of today: the same core desire for freedom, the same vibrant imagination of brilliant futures.
Her canvases depict zones of refuge — mountain ranges, swamps, forests, arid plains — the topographies of Quilombo and Maroon existence. The paintings are built through a meticulous process of staining and layering, drawn from archival images of common Haitian migratory geographies: Guantanamo Bay, the Darién Gap, the Dajabón River. Oil, ink, and acrylic are her primary materials; soil and mica are occasionally embedded for texture and depth. Intertwined roots and intricate linework blur the boundary between drawing and painting, giving visual form to Édouard Glissant's rhizomatic theory — the understanding that diasporic identity spreads indefinitely, with multiple entry points and connections, always in a state of becoming.
Her work asks what is left behind when we embark upon colder shores. Sacrifice emerges as a central theme — the emotional fugitives of diaspora, navigating gaps in historical, spiritual, and cultural narrative that echo across generations. By honoring the lives and ever-expanding geographies of Black migrants, Finéus continues to portray liminal landscapes that demonstrate how even in moments of surrender, we are driven by aspirations of hope and faith.
