The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 30, 2026

A horizontal relief print features a large, dark blue organic arch on a turquoise field. Dense, scale-like patterns compose the central mass, which curves from a blunt base at the bottom left to five finger-like projections on the right. A splattered, light-blue texture surrounds the shape, creating a hazy halo within the solid turquoise border.

Vol

2022

Didier William

(Haitian American, b. 1983)
Haiti
color relief from wood and polymer plates
Sheet: 31.8 x 48.3 cm (12 1/2 x 19 in.)
Gift of the Print Club of New York 2025.215
© Didier William
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Of his depictions of bodies—such as the one seen in this print—Didier William has commented, “It is interesting to think about imagining alternative states of being for anyone whose body has been criminalized, and not just in the context of the Caribbean, but for those of us who have tried to occupy bodies that have not been able to live freely in real time.”

Description

Contemporary Haitian American artist Didier William was born in Port-au-Prince and later moved to North Miami. Drawing from this experience, his work explores immigration and his cultural roots in Haiti. This print is titled for the word for “flight” in Kreyòl, the official language of Haiti. It belongs to a body of work in which William depicted bodies in flight or suspended in air. Here, a contorted figure composed of overlapping, elongated eyes appears against a background that evokes both water and air. William’s imagery often features eyes as a means of inviting the viewer to consider gender and race as performative.
  • 2022–2025
    Print Club of New York, New York, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    December 8, 2025–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Vol|url=false|author=Didier William|year=2022|access-date=30 May 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2025.215