In the Dominican Republic, Editorial Santuario and the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) announce the launch of Alanna Lockward's anthology Un Haití dominicano: Tatuajes fantasmas y narrativas bilaterales (1994-2014) [A Dominican Haiti: Ghost Tattoos and Bilateral Narratives (1994-2014)]. The compilation, which features cover art and illustrations by renowned artist Raúl Recio, will be presented on Thursday, September 25, at 7:00pm in the main auditorium of the MAM, located at Plaza de la Cultura in Santo Domingo.

Argentine semiotician Walter Mignolo (Duke University) writes:
"[. . .] first, I read the manuscript Marassá y la nada, and soon after, the version in print. Marassá y la nada is a beginning work by an already well-formed writer. [. . .] Concise writing, precise and understated, yet complex. As I read it, I heard the murmurs of an existentialism that is Caribbean and, at the same time, female. Then, another surprise by Alanna fell into my hands: her journalistic essays written mainly between 1994 and 1998 (written on the island), and retrospectively extended to 2014 (written in Berlin) [Un Haití dominicano]. The texts offer a window to the island in the late twentieth century. Racism and genderism are rampant through these pages. But not only that, political and economic issues, as well as immigration policies affecting sex workers and manual laborers. The texts also draw a map that transcends the island and traces its connections to Miami and Mexico. [. . .] Decoloniality is liberating and revolutionary insofar as it gives us the option to let go of hierarchies that are not ontological but modern/colonial fictions. To rid ourselves of these illusions is a daily task at all levels. Un Haití dominicano contributes to this task to the extent that it invites us to 'feel,' in one way or another, the relationships between the two parts of the island."

For more information on the book (a 2009 prologue by Rubén Silié, Dominican Ambassador to Haiti; a 2012 prologue by Mexican journalist Paco Navarrete; and an introduction by the author) see http://acento.com.do/2012/opinion/205181-prologos-al-libro-un-haiti-dominicano-de-alanna-lockward/

Special thanks to Repeating Islands: http://repeatingislands.com/2014/09/20/book-launch-alanna-lockwards-un-haiti-dominicano-tatuajes-fantasmas-y-narrativas-bilaterales/

Cover: Raúl Recio, Tata's Grace, 1988, acrílico sobre tela.

Design: Amado Santana