iciHaiti - Obituary: Gérard Chenet left us at the age of 95

The Ministry of Culture salutes the memory of the Haitian-Senegalese poet, playwright, novelist, historian, sculptor and musician Gérard Chenet, who died in Senegal on November 23 at the age of 95.

Gérard Chenet was co-founder of the newspaper "La Ruche" which had become known for the revolutionary ideas which had led to the outbreak of the 1946 Revolution and contributed to the promotion of the Creole language, alongside Jacques Stephen in particular. Alexis and René Depestre.

Gérard Chenet had left Haiti in 1955 for Canada, then had gone to France, to Nancy, a little later to the Soviet Union, then to Guinea after the break between Sékou Touré and General de Gaulle and finally to Senegal where he lived over 60 years until his death.

Gérard Chenet's activities have left many memories in the cultural life of Senegal where he was Cultural Advisor for 25 years between 1960 and 1990.

His house, known as "Sobo Badè", in the locality of Toubab Dielaw in Senegal, had become an original hotel where artists could come in residence and where Gérard's talents as a sculptor and architect were expressed.

Gérard Chenet had built in 2007 a second cultural center near Sobo Badè, open to artists (dancers, sculptors, musicians) called "Engouement", which presented an architecture favoring creativity and spirituality.

House of Gérard Chenet (Sobo Badé) :

IH/ iciHaiti