The sun sets over the mountains outside of Port-au-Prince.
Participants in a water safety seminar walk home with their water purification kits up in the mountains of Port-au-Prince.
I first traveled to Haiti in August 2010 after being invited to visit the Sculptors of Grand Rue, a Vodou arts collective based in Port-au-Prince. I had never seen their work before. Just months earlier, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake had devastated the country, and when I arrived, the capital was still in ruins. Amid the destruction, I encountered a community of artists transforming discarded materials into raw, transcendent works of art. Their vision and how they interpret the world left a deep impression on me.
I continued to Jacmel, a coastal town known for its cultural heritage. I met local artists and filmmakers equally committed to preserving and evolving Haitian identity through their work. A few months later, I returned to Port-au-Prince on the earthquake’s first anniversary to reconnect with those I had met, witness how life had shifted, and document the strength and creativity that persisted despite hardship.
In 2011, while working for a DC-based NGO in Italy, I spent a weekend at the Venice Biennale. While walking through the city, I encountered the work of the Grand Rue artists on the world stage. Seeing their sculptures exhibited on an international stage was profoundly moving.
A post-earthquake camp remains one year after the disaster near downtown Port-au-Prince.
People coming and going in downtown Port-au-Prince.
A car remains burried under rubble six months after the earthquake.
A woman walks by a building covered in graffiti near the center of Port-au-Prince.
Haitian Vodou artist and sculpter André Eugène' inside his studio in the Grand Rue in Port-au-Prince.
Filmmakers and conceptual artists TV Geto interview people on the street during the one-year anniversary of the earthquake in Port-au-Prince.
A large metal cross marks the site of a mass grave created as a result of the earthquake on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.
Children line up for lunch at a NGO-run school in Cité Soleil.
Timon stands outside her fish restaurant in Jacmel.
A UN soldier stands watch at a base in Jacmel.
The sun sets over the city of Port-au-Prince.
Visitors to the 2011 Venice Biennale walk past shipping containers making up the Haitian Pavilion showcasing work from Sculptors of Grand Rue.
Small boats, made by a Haitian artist, representing the Haitian migrant journey, are on display at a gallery as part of the 2011 Venice Biennale.