Kathia St. Hilaire’s practice grapples with histories that have been forgotten or actively suppressed, focusing on Haiti, where her parents emigrated from to the United States. The artist tells stories of the island nation’s history and the long shadows it casts, from French colonialism to independence, from U.S. occupation to the diasporic communities in which she was raised. In recounting these histories, St. Hilaire blends established facts with the larger-than-life legends of Haiti’s leaders in a manner she describes as “magical realist.” To represent Creolized cultures, the artist uses a collage of nontraditional materials, from banknotes and banana stickers to product packaging and car tires. Like the open weaving at the edges of her work, the artist suggests the Haitian revolution is itself an unfinished project—in particular amidst the country’s current tumult. Contained within these vibrant, dreamlike pictures are past, present, and the suggestion of possible futures.
In this work, St. Hilaire takes inspiration from John Thomas Smith's Vagabondiana series, which consists of engravings of wanderers and beggars in 19th century London. Smith published caricatures of the lower classes of London while working as Keeper of the Prints at the British Museum in 1817. St. Hilaire focuses on one engraving of Joseph Johnson, a former sailor in the British merchant navy who was discharged without a pension before settling in London. Without any recourse or stability after his service, Johnson became a street performer in Whitechapel. Constructing a toy boat of the ship Nelson, on which he had served, Johnson is depicted with the boat atop his cap, leaning on crutches. Upon viewing the original print, St. Hilaire was drawn to Johnson's story. In Untitled, St. Hilaire shows herself, as a girl, with Johnson's toy boat on her head, connecting herself to Johnson and his experiences with colonial attitudes which filter through the centuries. Placing the figure within a hoola hoop, surrounded by butterflies, against a backdrop of the fauna of her Florida backyard, St. Hilaire juxtaposes childhood with the harsh reality of the generational effects of colonialism.