Jacques-Richard Chery - “Hunger Misereor Cloth”

Wall towel Jacques-Richard Chery
“Hunger Misereor Tuch” Canvas size 122cm/82cm, print size 70cm/98cm Screen printing on linen The cloth is completely intact. Colors are magnificent. A hunger cloth was hung in front of the altar during Lent. This way, during the austere time of fasting, people were not distracted by the splendor of the altar. This is the third hunger cloth that the German development organization Misereor had made. The original size, large 180×0×268 cm, was intended for churches and parishes. Smaller variants have also been printed, of which this is one. The German development organization Misereor had this hunger cloth made by a "southern" artist, Jacques-Richard from Haiti. It is considered the best of all the hunger paintings to date and is also seen as Chéry's magnum opus, at the crossroads of his earlier traditional style and his later, more comic style with caricaturing of the figures. His work is considered primitivism, comparable to the (Tahitian) work of Gaugain. In nine fragments over three levels, Chéry translates how his compatriots experience a number of stories from the Bible. The special thing about this Hunger Canvas is the merging of a double reality: the message of the Bible and the world as it was experienced in Haiti in the early 1980s. Violence, oppression and armaments are opposed to the biblical utopia of hope, life and expectation. He painted the biblical world as it becomes. The most striking is the suffering Christ on the tree of life. Jesus is also present in five other scenes, recognizable by his orange-red robe. He suffers with people, shows them the way and sits at the table with them. The canvas contains nine scenes. The bottom blue strip introduces us to (boat) refugees, war and greed. That strip indicates hellish things and the less than rosy situation in which the world and Haiti in particular find themselves. In the middle light green strip, Jesus is central as a teacher and savior who gives hope and liberation. The top light yellow strip refers to heavenly things, to good values, human rights, the happiness of the earthly paradise and of sharing together at the world table. And all this takes place under the rainbow, symbol of God's covenant with his people.