The Gift of Photography for SOPUDEP: Oct 2, 2011
Left: “After First Communion.” Upon finishing their first communion, Haitian girls pose upon leaving the cathedral in Cap Haitian. Right: “Smoke from Burning Tires.” Smoke fills a street in Port-au-Prince after security forces extinguish burning tires following a student demonstration against poverty.By Darren Ell
I began working as a photographer in Haiti in 2006, a tense time in Haiti as the tumultuous period of the 2004 coup d’état was coming to an end. Entire neighborhoods such as Cité Soleil were cut off from the world by UN troops, innocent people were being shot in the streets, and kidnappings plagued Port-au-Prince. It was under these circumstances that American journalist and filmmaker Kevin Pina, with whom I had traveled to Haiti to work, introduced me to SOPUDEP Founder and Director Rea Dol.
Rea’s home was (and remains) a hub for practical idealists. Rea introduced me to independent journalists, well-informed political analysts, teachers and the many people who depend on her for shelter and advice. She provided us with transportation for our journalism work and took care of our food and lodging needs. I found her, and those around her, to have a profound knowledge of Haiti. I soon found that she focused all this knowledge on her main concern, a school named SOPUDEP, of which she was the director.
Over the course of the next four years, I would return to Haiti to photograph the students and staff of SOPUDEP as well as the communities in which they lived and worked. I also photographed the people of Haiti, their troubling socio-economic reality and the landscape in which they lived. During my 2007 visit to SOPUDEP, Rea confided that she was in desperate need of funding for the school. I promised I would do what I could to help her upon my return to Montreal. A few months later, I met Ryan Sawatzky - who would start The Sawatzky Family Foundation to provide support for SOPUDEP - and the rest is history. SOPUDEP has consistently expanded since, now including numerous other projects to help raise the expectations of the poor in Haiti.
Since 2006, I have published my photographs in articles which seek to educate the public about the reasons for Haiti’s trials and tribulations.
I held a major exhibition in Montreal which had the same objective. I have helped organize educational events in Montreal and Quebec City and spoken publicly on occasion. I have been an enthusiastic support to Ryan Sawatzky in his committed work for SOPUDEP. At this point, I would like to contribute in another way, by offering my photographs for sale as a fundraiser for SOPUDEP.
On my website, I have prepared an online gallery entitled Haiti Thirst for Justice. The gallery consists of a small selection of some of my favorite photographs. Supporters of SOPUDEP can go to this gallery and purchase photographs directly from the site with a credit card or via Paypal. I will donate 80% of the revenues to SOPUDEP. If viewers find that photos from another gallery interest them, I can easily arrange to prepare the photo for them. Simply contact me via the website and I will get to work for you. Once you have purchased a photo, send me an email (via my site) and indicate that you would like the donation to go to SOPUDEP.
I have selected photographs from my collection which reflect both the beauty and the struggle of the people of Haiti. To offer only one or the other would not accurately represent what one finds in Haiti. The photographs will be professionally printed and delivered to your door, ready for framing. A quick note on the sizes of the photographs: I offer them in three sizes, and trust me, the bigger you buy them, the more spectacular they look! Just ask Ryan!
I am pleased to be able to offer this service to SOPUDEP and I look forward to doing more of this work in the future.
Left: “Boy stands near open latrine on Mapou River, Cap Haitian.” A boy from the poor community of Shada, in Cap Haitian, stands near the community latrine metres from his home. Right: “Children at SOPUDEP school.
