Fruits of Hispaniola is childlike in appearance but fruits the little girls are picking fruits are drops of blood. The fruits of Hispaniola are the consequences of colonialism in Haiti, once called Hispaniola, meaning Spanish Island, as named by Christopher Columbus. Columbus arrived searching for India and gold. He found, instead, Arawaks and an island that had no gold.
Columbus took as much as he could from the island, including the lives of most of its indigenous population. Plantations were built, followed by the importation of African slaves to work them. Hispaniola was later claimed by the French who named it Saint Domingue, continuing the plantation slave economy. The slave history of Haiti/Hispaniola forms a direct line to the systemic racism, oppression and anti-immigrant violence saturating communities throughout our country today.
This painting is sold.