One day prior to the earthquake in Haiti last week, Darren Ell’s art exhibit Haiti: Holdup opened in Concordia University’s Media Gallery. His photographic documentary pieces were a prescient warning about the vulnerability of Haiti’s fragile infrastructure — a fragility directly caused by American, Canadian and French manipulation.
Ell’s exhibit consists of three enormous photographs, seven feet wide and five feet high to be precise. Each is intended to make the viewing experience as immediate as possible, to enable viewers to enter the scene. Two photos deal with UN-led arrest operations in the slums of Port-au-Prince. They are meant to bring the viewer close to the reality of foreign occupation and ongoing colonial control. The third photo is more romantic, with smoke billowing around a beautiful tree and flung open gate. The light beauty of the scene sets the viewer up for a thud when one realizes that the smoke comes from extinguished fires following a student demonstration against the high cost of living. This protest was one of many during the food riots of 2008.
Our duty to Haiti: donate then wake up!
Posted on January 25, 2010 by Justin Beach
Advertisement
