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Aftershocks – Haiti Earthquake 2010

jl auch — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:28:10 +0000

On January 12, 2010 a devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake shook Haiti. The destruction was massive and completely dismantled any preexisting Haitian infrastructure. Both the UN Headquarters and the Capital building were reduced to ruins. In the wake of the crisis, people struggle to survive, sleeping on the street or in make-shift tents, most without food, water and medical assistance. The event has left over 200,000 dead and millions homeless.

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Requiem for Haiti – A Prelude

jl auch — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:20:31 +0000

Requiem for Haiti – A Prelude

The skin of my brothers burn,
blistering hissing spitting
bursting a final gasp of air
a death rattle a crack of sap.

My sister burns into a blackened
corpse, her green body curling
into a carbon galaxy shimmering
opaque starless and alone.

A tree speaks differently than a man,
the wind the rustle the leaves are
thoughts and whispers and memories.

A broken thorn pleads;
‘Why do you cut?’
‘Why do you smash us?’
‘Have you no pity in you?’

Under a cold gray sky my Mother weeps
her muddy shoulders tremble, pockmarked
by greed, poverty and an absent god.

Excerpt from ‘Wasteland: Charcoal Production in Haiti’, written two days before the earthquake.

The Charbonnière – Video Test One

jl auch — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:00:56 +0000

The Charbonnière are the workers who sort, transport and sell the charcoal in Haiti. Outcast by Haitian society, because of the lowly status of the job, they are considered bottom of the ranks in the Haitian working class. Their ages range from younger than 10 to as old as 80. The workers at the market spend 12 hours a day, in the blistering sun, on their hands and knees sorting charcoal into various sizes. This is then bagged and transported into Port-au-Prince (and other places around the country) on open back trucks. The Charbonnière ride on top of the charcoal bags and the trucks travel on disheveled roads at speeds in excess of 70mph. It is not uncommon to see the carcasses of trucks discarded on the side of the road after the many fatal crashes. This is video is a test, shot at the charcoal distribution market on the coast in Les Arcahaie, and is meant to be a small vignette or portrait of the Charbonnière. Shot on a basic handheld DV Cam (generously lent to me by my friend, and talented photographer in his own right, Enrique de la Huelga) it was graded with Magic Bullet Looks.

If you are interested, and want to know more, see the complete photo story here: Wasteland – Charcoal in Haiti.