photo essay: Regine Romain
AYITI: REACHING HIGHER GROUND
“They are in many respects a fine looking people. There is about them a sort of majesty. They carry themselves proudly erect as if conscious of their freedom and independence.”
Frederick Douglas, Former United States Minister to the Republic of Haïti,
Lecture on Haïti, Chicago, IL, January 2, 1893
Betwixt light and shadows, I research and photograph Haiti’s shifting yet distinct presence throughout the Diaspora in an ongoing visual project. A new generation, in which I am reflected, is shaped by our location in history, politics, and geography. Our hybrid language, customs and traditions migrate with us, both conforming and resisting transcultural influences.
I am her storyteller, offering insight into the lives of Haiti ‘s extraordinary yet often marginalized and misrepresented people. I look into the black space, into the black face that is often overlooked. People of color are analogous to the black space in the negative of a photograph. We are often the backgrounds that allow the foreground to be seen. I share the remarkable stories of my people to dismantle this paradigm.
The multiple tragedies of January 12, 2010 in Haïti, connected the Haitian diaspora into one large family in a way I have never seen or felt in my lifetime. Accordingly, when we watched the news coverage of members of our extended Haitian community being rescued after two weeks or after a month under the rubble, we cheered and gave thanks as if it was our very own kin. Our tears and prayers were unified with that of the worlds, as we continued to anxiously await more good news from a country that has already endured so much hardship, since its independence from French rule in 1804.
The aftermath of Haiti’s horrific earthquake also brought an avalanche of stereotypical images that were dispersed throughout the global media depicting Haitians as nameless, lost bodies, and disconnected from community. For example, on January 19, 2010, in the New York Times, under the headline “Silence and Submission,” a photograph of an unidentified Haitian woman is shown prostrate on a slab of concrete with her hands outstretched for help. This image is typical of the way Haitian people and their lives are represented throughout media history.
However, in the hands of Haitian people the camera is essential in providing a broader view of our own experiences and histories, often in contrast to accepted media depictions. As a member of the Haitian diaspora, I went to Haïti, three weeks after the calamitous events of January 12th, to offer assistance, resources and to photograph a necessary counter perspective. From my trip began a series entitled, Ayiti: Reaching Higher Ground, which includes images such as “Sleeping Lion,” “Holding Innocence,” “Thank you for the Flag,” “Mama Ginen” and others that highlight the dignity of Haitian people, my people, resilient in our faith and survival.
The “imagined” and “the real” are tightly woven into the fabric of photography and historically the images of Haïti throughout the world, rarely show what was real in the lives of Haitian people and continued to perpetuate, what others imagined. Through the photography, research, documentation and a series of interviews conducted in my ongoing visual project, new “truer” images are shared, and old tales are birthed anew. The need remains for our own gaze to be seen; one that creates honest, dynamic, innovative portraits of Haitian people.
[showtime]
REGINE ROMAIN is a photo-anthro-journalist who fuses her interests in travel and culture to explore both spiritual and tangible worlds. She is also a writer, performer and educator who teaches photography, poetry, multi-media studies and global history, seeking to stimulate artistic expression, critical inquiry and social activism in her students. Régine is the Founder and Director the Urban PhotoPoets Project and the Brooklyn Photo Salon. She received her Bachelor of Science in International Studies from Bowie State University and in 2008 acquired a Masters in Photography & Urban Culture from Goldsmiths, University of London.