Maelle of Haiti — The Girl Who Draws What Should Be Remembered

Maelle of Haiti — The Girl Who Draws What Should Be Remembered

$25.00

Size 25x25 cm / 10x10″ 35x35 cm / 14x14″ 50x50 cm / 20x20″ 70x70 cm / 28x28″

Maëlle of Haiti — The Girl Who Draws What Should Be Remembered

Age: 11 Region: Caribbean

Maëlle draws houses.

Not fancy houses.

She likes the ones with crooked gates and flowers growing beside the steps. Houses with trees that have been there longer than anyone remembers. Houses where somebody's grandmother sits near the window and knows exactly who is walking past without needing to look.

At eleven—almost twelve, which Maëlle considers an important distinction—she has filled sketchbooks with places other people barely notice.

Her mother once asked why she didn't simply take pictures.

Maëlle looked horrified.

A photograph, she explained, shows what something looks like.

Drawing it makes you notice what it is.

The crack beside the doorway.
The mountain rising behind the roof.
The tree leaning slightly toward the house as though the two have been keeping each other company.

Those things matter.

Sometimes older neighbors see her drawings and begin telling stories.

Who built the house.
Who planted the tree.
Who used to live there.

Maëlle loves that part best.

She has begun writing little notes beside her sketches so she won't forget.

Someday, Maëlle wants to become an architect—one who understands that building something new doesn't have to mean forgetting everything that came before it...

Her dream: To become an architect who creates beautiful places while honoring the stories and character of the communities around them.

Her wonder: “Can a place remember the people who loved it?”