12828: Maxime Gabriel, 44, recorded Haitian lives (Boston Globe) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

Maxime Gabriel, 44; recorded Haitian lives
Boston Globe

By Adam D. Krauss, Globe Correspondent, 8/13/2002

axime Gabriel, a local artist who worked to make people aware of the
struggles of Haitian children, died of heart failure Aug. 3 at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. A Malden resident, he was 44.


Mr. Gabriel immigrated to the United States in 1980, living for brief periods
in Miami and New York City. When he settled in Boston about 10 years later,
Mr. Gabriel took an interest in photography and painting.

''He wanted to share and discuss his experiences through art as a Haitian
immigrant ... and as someone who really loved Boston,'' said his wife,
Rosemarie Boardman. ''He had a real concern for the plight of children in
developing countries.''

Mr. Gabriel's photography skills chronicled the activities of the New England
Observers Delegation to Haiti during the 1995 Haitian presidential elections.
The stills he shot on the trip helped produce the video ''Haiti: Dignity or
Misery,'' which was awarded the Best Documentary/Educational Program in 1996
by Somerville Community Access Television.

In 1995, along with Charlot Lucien, Mr. Gabriel cofounded the Massachusetts
Haitian Artists Assembly, a group of local artists. The two saw that there
were many people in the Boston area who were well-known artists in Haiti but
because of economic pressures had to give up on their talents. They ''sensed
a need of fellowship among the artist community,'' Lucien, of Hyde Park,
said.

Mr. Gabriel also led a Haitian Youth group in Somerville from 1996 to 2000.

He had paintings and photographs on exhibition throughout Boston at many
venues, including the Boston Center for Arts, Boston Public Library, and the
Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center.

One painting, ''Children of Haiti,'' was based on a photo he took of children
peering through the wall of a dilapidated concrete building. ''To see their
eyes was very moving,'' Boardman said.

''He would keep his cool in tense situations. He was soft-spoken and a
devoted worker. There was a very calming presence about him,'' Lucien said.
He addded that near the end of his life, Mr. Gabriel '' just wanted to get
out of [the hospital] and go back to Haiti to open a photo shop and begin
teaching art classes to children.''

In addition to his wife, Mr. Gabriel leaves his parents, Francoise (Paulo)
and Max of Port-au-Prince, Haiti; a brother, Yves of Pembroke Pines, Fla.;
and sisters, Lysette Bertrand and Guirlene, both of Port-au-Prince.

A funeral service will be held tomorrow in Haiti, and a memorial service is
planned for September in Boston.

This story ran on page F12 of the Boston Globe on 8/13/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.