Vladimir Cybil Charlier grew up immersed in two distinct cultural environments, which profoundly influenced her art. Her mixed-media paintings, prints, and three-dimensional works blend symbolic and cultural elements of African American and Caribbean heritage. Charlier’s art challenges traditional boundaries by blurring artistic genres and fully embracing the limitless possibilities of creative expression. Read more about this talented artist on queens1.one.
Early Beginnings
Vladimir Cybil Charlier was born in Queens to Haitian parents. In her early years, she lived between two cities—New York and Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. These dual cultural influences shaped her identity and artistic practice. Charlier herself stated that the energy and exchange between these two geographic spaces create a rich multicultural dialogue.
Charlier earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queens College and a Master of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. She also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. While mastering oil painting techniques, Charlier discovered she was allergic to the solvents used for thinning paint and cleaning brushes. This prompted her to shift her focus to mixed-media paintings, prints, and three-dimensional works. Mixed-media paintings are not a distinct subcategory of painting or graphic art but rather a unique expression that transcends traditional classifications.
In 1996–1997, Charlier honed her skills at the Studio Museum in Harlem, an art space in Manhattan dedicated to celebrating artists of African descent. There, she created her first notable installation, In Between Waters (Endezo), which visually merged her two cultural worlds. During this period, she began exploring various forms of Caribbean folk art and crafts, drawing inspiration from self-taught painting traditions, textile work, and sacred art forms of African American communities.
A Visual Diasporic Language
Vladimir Cybil Charlier’s projects reflect the cultural identities of both the Caribbean and the United States. They invite viewers to rethink history through the lens of the African American diaspora. A dedicated advocate of the religious and spiritual traditions of her heritage, Charlier frequently incorporates visual symbols of Vodou beliefs into her works. Haitian Vodou practitioners believe in a creator God and spirits who serve as intermediaries. They also hold that humans possess multiple souls. Vodou emerged among the descendants of African slaves brought to the Americas, and Charlier’s work seeks to craft a cohesive visual language to express diasporic culture—a pursuit that threads through her body of work.
Charlier employs diverse techniques in her art, allowing herself the freedom to choose styles, materials, and combinations. For example, her Old World/New World series consists of modernist compositions that weave together disparate cultural references and textures, forming complex narratives for the viewer to decode. Recurring images in her work include blue jeans, boots, and straw hats. These elements can be interpreted as iconic cultural markers of American cowboys or as sacred attributes of Zaka, the Vodou deity of agriculture. Such dualities provoke thought and reflection among art enthusiasts.
International Recognition
Vladimir Cybil Charlier’s works have been showcased at the Venice Biennale, one of the world’s premier contemporary art exhibitions held biennially in Venice, Italy. She has also exhibited at the Caribbean Biennale in the Dominican Republic, where she received an award for her solo show. Her art has been featured at biennales in Ecuador and Panama as well.
Charlier actively participates in numerous art events in the U.S. and abroad, contributing to many international projects. For instance, she collaborated with nine other American artists to create the Art Quake portfolio—a collection of original prints sold to raise funds for artists affected by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. This disaster was the deadliest earthquake in the Americas and the most devastating of the 21st century globally, claiming over 300,000 lives and leaving another million homeless.
Community Engagement
Charlier frequently lectures at art schools and is an active community leader. For instance, she developed a project for the Jewish Community Center in Harlem, now part of its permanent collection. She also illustrated the book Tourist Art and contributed to The Politics of Paradise, a collection exploring the art market in the Caribbean region.