Jean Emmanuel Zamor

Jean Emmanuel Zamor, who signs his paintings “Zoom,” at work on some lettering for a new restaurant in the streets of Leogane.

Originally from Carrefour, the vast neighborhood that makes up most of the western outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Zamor lives with his family in Leogane, about an hour from the capital. One of Leogane’s foremost painters, he is the co-founder of an annual drawing and painting competition for children that draws hundreds of entrants each year, cultivating and promoting the arts among local youth. As we walked through the streets on a tour of his barbershop sign-painting work, he was constantly greeted by children and students who had participated in his program. Many of the images he uses to decorate hair salons and barbershops are drawn from one well-thumbed magazine of Afro-American hairstyles, some of which he exquisitely renders only in pencil. This choice is unique in my experience; he says this is precisely what makes it particularly eye-catching.

To order a portrait by Jean Emmanuel Zamor in color or in black-and-white line please check the Commissions page for details and contact information.