Roi David (King David) was born in Jacmel in 1967. As a young man, he worked in a factory decorating souvenir boxes. In 1990, he started painting full time.

Making use of the vodou symbols and mythology that he learned from his aunt (a vodou priestess), he paints intricate and emotional compositions that are designed to represent Haiti in its ongoing struggle for improvement. His works are intense, political, tormented and disturbingly beautiful.

In 1995, he was featured in an exhibit of Vodou and healing at the School of Fine Arts at Indiana University. His work was also featured in the Jonathan Demme exhibit "Island of Fire" as well as in the catalog of that exhibition.