After thirty years in the fashion world in Paris, I started painting in Harlem at the age of 56.

I discovered Harlem through a workshop in art therapy linked to a psychiatric hospital, the “Souls in Motion” Project, created by Julia Demaree and Louise Rozenberg. I became a resident artist there, and stayed for four years, with an interruption of one year when I went to study at the New York Studio School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture.

Being in contact with this community of men who had gone through the hardships of life was a great experience, as we became close in a space where transformation was possible for everyone through artistic expression.

They were my inspiration for a series of portraits in oil painting and watercolors.

Being their humble mirror was my only intention, and the heart only was guiding the hand.

Joseph Franklin, painter of demons and marvels

Lorna McGuffin, poet

Floyd Banner, painter of the stars and cosmos

Ethel Jones, writer

Robert Belton, sculptor

Albert Raboteau, writer

William Turner, Doris Jackson, Muhamad Dorth, Mary Flournoy, Mariette Climintz, Juliet Climintz, Pierre Dorval, Gibbons …

and Louise and Julia, without whom none of this would have been possible. Thank you everybody for your participation in this artwork, by posing for me with patience and confidence.

 -Anne de Chabaneix