While exploring my family lineage, I came across the story of Rosalie Adolphe Bosquet, my grandmother’s aunt and a political figure associated with acts of torture and violence against the Haitian population during the Duvalier dictatorship. The victims connected to her actions included mothers, fathers, and children, with accounts attributing approximately 170 deaths to her role. Much of this history, however, remains loosely documented.

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In a conversation with my mother, she recalled that during her youth, Rosalie was a figure who visited her home. When I later shared what I had learned with my father, he expressed a strong sense of discomfort and disapproval toward the history associated with her.

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The Know Your History Series is an exploration of my ancestral past and its relationship to the present. In this six-part series, I depict the women in my family in connection with visual features of Rosalie Adolphe Bosquet. The paintings are created on fabrics connected to Haiti, using a loose application of paint with a strong emphasis on the gaze of each portrait.

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The juxtaposition of these women allows me to consider the complexity of my own lineage and the ways that history can become part of our lives, even when we do not fully understand it. Growing up in Haiti, I remember the tranquility of my town and the sense of comfort and privilege that existed within my childhood. As I have grown older and learned more about my family's history, I have begun to consider how that experience may have existed alongside very different experiences for others.

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This work is not an attempt to provide a simple conclusion about my family's past, but rather to sit with its complexity. It asks me to consider what it means to inherit a history that contains both personal connection and difficult truths. Through Know Your History, I am opening a conversation about ancestry, privilege, memory, and the ways in which histories—both personal and political—continue to shape how we understand ourselves today.