Vivid street shots of life in modern Haiti
- Text by Miss Rosen
- Photography by Hatnim Lee /
The only nation to arise from a successful slave revolt, on New Year’s Day 1804, Haiti became the very first Black republic to win independence from European imperialists anywhere in the world. For the past two centuries, the country’s self-sovereignty has come at a hefty price, as Haiti continues to pay France war reparations and gets subjected to political destabilisation by several regimes working inside the United States.
On January 12, 2010, disaster struck when Haiti was hit by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake killing up to 300,000 people and leaving 1.6 million homeless. The people of the beautiful island, who had already lived through so much, had once again become caught in a cycle of destruction that they’re still fighting to overcome.
After the earthquake, Korean-American photographer Hatnim Lee traveled to Haiti with a group from Fordham University’s law program. It was her first time doing relief work on the island – but it would not be her last. Most recently, in January 2018, Lee returned to Haiti to work with Project Medishare, which has been providing healthcare to the island for almost 25 years.
Lee spent her days photographing inside mobile maternity clinics serving the women of the nation, which has one highest maternal mortality rates in the world. When she wasn’t working, Lee would take her camera on to the streets, documenting the people she met along the way and crafting a portrait of the Haitian people as they live today.
“The capital city of Port-au-Prince seems like a tropical hazard,” Lee observes. “It’s beautiful, lush, and green but there are no sidewalks sometimes. There are big holes in the ground. The roads are really bumpy. There’s lots of pollution, lots of traffic, people hanging from cars. It’s very hectic. There isn’t a lot of electricity or running water in a lot of areas, so at night it can get really dark.”
Out in the countryside, it’s an entirely different world. Here, Lee, working with Project Medishare, Lee encountered people who live off the grid. “It’s hard for them to leave their towns because they don’t even have roads to walk on,” she explains. “They’re just walking through fields.”
Lee immediately felt at home among the people, who she describes as strong, kind, and generous. “I feel very connected to Haiti and I think it is because the people have been through so much, and it’s an everyday struggle for them. They are a strong people and are tough love. I’m drawn to that. It takes a moment for them to warm up, but they will watch out for you.”
For Lee, the act of making pictures was a conversation all its own, for she doesn’t speak French and only knows a little bit of Spanish. Yet the verbal language barrier changed the way she could communicate, using hand gestures and facial expressions to bridge the divide. The result was a body of work made from the pure intention to connect, to share a moment between strangers with the world outside.
“When I am shooting in Haiti, I kind of like not being able to have a conversation with people because you don’t really need words to make pictures,” Lee reveals. “It takes a step out, and you can communicate on a very instinctual level because you don’t have words to save you. I am careful not to take advantage. They don’t have anyone to protect them so I try to be respectful. It’s like going to someone else’s home. You’re the visitor.”
See more of Hatnim Lee’s work on her official website.
Follow Miss Rosen on Twitter.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Latest on Huck
Bobby Gillespie: “This country is poisoned by class”
Primal Scream’s legendary lead singer writes about the band’s latest album ‘Come Ahead’ and the themes of class, conflict and compassion that run throughout it.
Written by: Bobby Gillespie
Vibrant photos of New York’s Downtown performance scene
‘Balloons and Feathers’ is an eclectic collection of images documenting the scene for over two decades.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Picking through the rubble: Glimpses of hope in the US election results
Clambering through the wreckage of the Harris campaign, delving deeper into the election results and building on the networks that already exist, all hope is not gone writes Ben Smoke.
Written by: Ben Smoke
US Election night 2024 in Texas
Photographer Tom “TBow” Bowden travelled to Republican and Democratic watch parties around Houston, capturing their contrasting energies as results began to flow in.
Written by: Isaac Muk
In photos: “Real life is not black and white” – Polaroid x Magnum Open Call winners
See pictures from the competition organised by two titans of contemporary photography, which called upon artists to reject the digitalisation and over-perfectionism of our modern world, technology and image-making.
Written by: Huck
In photos: Rednecks with Paychecks
‘American Diesel’ is a new photo series that looks at the people, places and culture behind the stereotypes of rural America.
Written by: Ben Smoke