Thony Loui

Thony Loui is a Haitian designer and comic book artist who was mentored by Rich Buckler, the legendary comic artist known for his work with Marvel and DC Comics. Buckler helped Loui with his first Haitian superhero creation, Djatawo. This character was the subject of a limited edition comic book that Loui released as part of a program at NYU aimed at increasing awareness of less commonly taught languages such as Haitian kreyòl. Loui has overcome being color blind to create a range of comic superheroes and has recently branched out to design a line of home products, clothing and giftware. He was one of two artists chosen to represent Haiti in the 5th Ibero-American Design Biennial in Madrid (2017), he was featured in the Conan O’Brien show filmed on location in Haiti (2018) and was recently commissioned to paint a portrait of the mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms.

With the help of Purchase students, Loui completed work on the first comic book featuring his latest superhero creation, Tanama. She uses her special powers to support smallholder farmers—and women smallholders in particular—in Haiti and around the world as they overcome tremendous hardships and fight off evil forces to combat climate change through tree planting.