Pool Party
MIKAEL SEMEXANT, Pool Party, 2024, Oil on canvas, 24 × 36 in
After a full day of partying and play, my cousins and I end the night by stripping off our day clothes and jumping into the pool, which glows softly under the evening sky.
Sunkissed
MIKAEL SEMEXANT, Sunkissed, 2024, Oil on canvas, 36 × 48 in
My mom watches as my cousin and I play with toys on a blanket outside, lying beside us on her back. The sun peeks through the trees, and the air smells like summer.
Long Day
MIKAEL SEMEXANT, Long Day, 2024, Oil on canvas, 36 × 48 in
After a long day of work and play, my dad takes a nap with my brother and me. My brother lies sprawled across his chest, and I lie close beside them—an intimate moment shared between a father and his children.
By sharing my own life experiences, I aim to communicate the enduring and resilient presence of love within our community.
Through my work, I aspire to create narratives centered on the humanity, passion, and community expressed by Black people—especially those of Haitian descent. From a young age, I was taught about Haiti’s historical significance, but it was the love within my Haitian family and community—despite the hardships Haiti has endured—that truly shaped my understanding of our people’s strength.
Experiencing this love firsthand taught me how essential it is to sustaining a community that has faced so much adversity. By sharing my own life experiences, I aim to communicate the enduring and resilient presence of love within our community.
Mikael Semexant is a self-taught Haitian-American artist based in South Florida, specializing in oil painting. From a young age, he was naturally drawn to art—using drawing as a vital form of self-expression, regulation, and release. Inspired by his family and community, Mikael paints scenes of seemingly mundane yet deeply meaningful moments, capturing the effortless and unselfish love that defined the environment he was raised in.
Through his work, he seeks to expand the Black historical narrative beyond pain and hardship, highlighting the ineffable love that Black—and especially Haitian—people know intimately, but rarely see accurately represented in media.