Art Opening: Daughters of Anacaona—A Celebration of Feminine Strength & Integrity

Anacaona, or Golden Flower, was a Taíno cacica (a female cacique, or chief), religious expert, poet, and composer. Born in approximately 1474 in Xaragua, Ayiti, she was executed by hanging from a visiting Spanish “diplomatic” mission.

The Alliance Française de Chicago’s fall 2025 exhibition, *Daughters of Anacaona,* will explore the legacy and modern relevance of the famed Taíno leader through the eyes of four women of the diaspora:

• Chantal Bethel (mixed media)
• Persida Louison (acrylic and fiber)
• Lisa Codella (ceramic and poetry)
• Veronique Demesmaeker (acrylic)

Help us welcome this powerful exhibition to the Eleanor Wood Prince Salon at a special vernissage, where guests will hear from the artists, discover the collection, and mix and mingle with fellow art and culture enthusiasts over a complimentary glass of French wine.

Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Program at 6:30. Please enter via 54 W Chicago Ave. Non-alcoholic options will be available.

About the Artists

Chantal Bethel

Born in Haiti, Chantal Bethel left at 12 years old for Brussels, Belgium where she was educated. Later, she relocated to The Bahamas where her father had previously resettled. An agronomist, her father was in exile in the United States after fleeing the Papa Doc Duvalier regime.

Emotion and a reconnection with her heritage is a streong part of Bethel’s practice, creating images that are reminiscent of the landscape of her youth as well as tales and stories that are passed down.

Louison Persida

Louison Persida was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She graduated with a Fashion & Fine Art degree from the International Academy of Merchandising & Design of Chicago.

Louison started her textile art career as a teaching artist for Gallery 37, a premier art institution created by Maggie Daley, the late wife of Mayor Daley of Chicago. She later became an art program consultant for Chicago Public Schools.

Louison’s work features layering of dyes, paint, fibers, embroidery, and beads over fabrics. Her latest work has been featured in Haitian Times N.Y., Vanity Fair Italia, Ticket Magazine: Haiti, Crécia Magazine: French Antilles, and Bahamas Weekly.

Lisa Cordella

Bahamian writer and ceramic artist, Liza Codella’s sculptural and functional pottery has been shown in local and national art exhibitions since first arriving on the art scene in 2014.

Her ceramic work often incorporates a wabi-sabi approach to life through the use of asymmetry, flowing lines, or raw edges. The underlying conversation that consistently runs through her work is a call to embrace the unexpected and appreciate the beauty of our unique idiosyncrasies.

As with her writing, her ceramic pieces tell their own stories. To do so, Codella enjoys employing techniques that imply movement in her piecesw—whether through sculpting the form itself, or through the use of incised mark-making and subtle glazes.

Véronique Demesmaeker

Véronique Demesmaeker was born in 1973 in Brussels, Belgium. She is the daughter of a Haitian mother and a Belgian father.

Developping her sensibility for the arts early on, she attended an art-oriented high school. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in business at the European School of Business in Brussels. Veronique then started working in finance while maintaining her artistic career on the side by painting murals in multiple locations such as hospitals, schools, and restaurants.

In 2010 she held her first solo exhibition. Between 2019 and 2020 she created a new body of work depicting with honesty her experience and admiration for womanhood through various cultures.