St. Hilaire's newest series is related to Spiralism, a Haitian literary movement founded in the 1960’s in response to François Duvalier’s dictatorship, which was marked by unrelenting violence towards Haitian civilians in order to enforce Duvalier’s totalitarian vision. Spiralism explores the generational effects of conflict over freedom and dictatorship in Haiti, investigating how ongoing tensions are related to its history and folk culture, and considering a reconciliation of lived experiences through past, present, and future. It offers a worldview that recognizes all circumstances within a chaotic yet interrelated process in resistance to colonial exploitation.
Spiralism enacts metaphors for complex histories of colonialism and occupation that continue to ripple out and recur throughout generations. The curvature and rhythm of a hurricane, vertigo, or a drop of water that ripples through the ocean, can serve as a metaphor for complex unknown histories that continually repeat and undulate through the centuries.
In this work, St. Hilaire incorporates barbed wire into the canvas, through a process of sanding and painting while maintaining the material’s visual integrity. The artist was drawn to barbed wire for its coiled, spiraled form, as well as its historical use across wars, colonization, and violent occupations. Having been interested in the material for years, St. Hilaire felt she could not access this material for its sterility and hopelessness. Through a sanding and imprinting method, St. Hilaire depicts the anonymous figure of a migrant, held back within the clutches of barbed wire.