In a Shipping Container, Images of the Struggle to Recover in Haiti
By Amy Yenkin
Tomorrow, a park in Brooklyn will transform into Photoville, a free photography village, the main centerpiece of which are exhibits in 35 large shipping containers.
If you are in New York from June 22 to July 1, I urge you to visit the new photo festival where we are exhibiting work about Haitians who lost their homes during the 2010 earthquake, and who fashioned new shelter in tents.
The Open Society Documentary Photography Project is showing Wyatt Gallery’s “Tent Life: Haiti,” which is featured in our current Moving Walls exhibition. The photographs are testament to the strength and dignity of the Haitian community after the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010 and decimated the city of Port-au-Prince.
While the earthquake occurred more than two years ago, Haiti is still struggling to recover and nearly half a million people continue to live in tents. For this reason, along with the Foundations’ deep commitment to Haiti, we selected Wyatt’s work for our Moving Walls exhibition and thought that bringing it to Photoville would remind the broader public of the ongoing situation.
Even if you’ve seen the Moving Walls exhibit, please come and see these photos again and think about whether the presentation in a shipping container lends it a different meaning. Wyatt will also be speaking on Saturday, June 30th at 2:45.
We are also excited that past Moving Walls photographers Lynsey Addario, Russell Frederick, and Brenda Ann Kenneally will be showing work at Photoville as well as Open Society grantee the Magnum Foundation.
Until March 2016, Amy Yenkin was the director of the Open Society Documentary Photography Project.