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14 images Created 16 Oct 2013

Haiti Holdup

The exhibition, Haiti: Holdup, was created as a response to Canadian, French and U.S. policy in Haiti and comprises material drawn from my visits to Haiti between 2006 and 2008. The photo exhibition exposes the role of these three powers in the destabilization and subsequent overthrow of the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.

The photo exhibition looks at the consequences of the overthrow of the elected government, an event with which the Haitian people are living to this day. It questions the purported benevolence of the United Nations force that has been the predominant power in Haiti since 2004.

The photographs and video installations of the exhibition place current foreign intervention in Haiti within colonial history. The large-scale blow-ups of the photographs taken in Port-au-Prince during UN police raids and popular demonstrations against rising prices harken back to French painters working at the height of French imperial power in Haiti in the late 1700's and to activist American painter Leon Golub.

The first video installation features a serene but abandoned landscape with a voice-over by Haitian-Canadian Jean St-Vil reading Frantz Gabriel's eye-witness account of the abduction of Jean-Bertrand Aristide on February 29th, 2004. Gabriel was responsible for Aristide's security and was himself abducted.

The second video installation is a looping projection, of legal data concerning the hundreds of political prisoners still detained in Haiti. The information for this piece was obtained from Haiti's Bureau des avocats internationaux (Office of International Lawyers).
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  • Excerpt of testimony of the kidnapping of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, obtained with permission from Franz Gabriel, kidnapped with the Haitian President in 2004.Concordia Media Gallery, Montreal, 2010.
    HH01.jpg
  • A French peacekeeper leads an arrest operation in the Cité-de-Dieu neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince, one of many arrest operations condemned by local and international human rights organizations. Concordia Media Gallery, Montreal, 2010.
    HH06.jpg
  • Excerpt from the historical texts about the 2004 coup d'état in Haiti, part of the installation of Haiti Holdup. Concordia Media Gallery, Montreal, 2010.
    HH03.jpg
  • A Jordanian peacekeeper points a machine gun at a Haitian man arrested in the Cité-de-Dieu neighbourhood, an operation criticized by local human rights organizations. Concordia Media Gallery, Montreal, 2010.
    HH08.jpg
  • Excerpt from the historical texts about the 2004 coup d'état in Haiti, part of the installation of Haiti Holdup. Concordia Media Gallery, Montreal, 2010.
    HH05.jpg
  • Haitian SWAT assist in an arrest operation in the Cité-de-Dieu neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince, one of many arrest operations condemned by local and international human rights organizations. Concordia Media Gallery, Montreal, 2010.
    HH14.jpg
  • Excerpt from the historical texts about the 2004 coup d'état in Haiti, part of the installation of Haiti Holdup. Concordia Media Gallery, Montreal, 2010.
    HH07.jpg
  • As the Haitian National Police spray water on burning tires in the streets of Port-au Prince during a protest against the high cost of living, smoke sweeps across downtown streets. Concordia Media Gallery, Montreal, 2010.
    HH04.jpg
  • Excerpt from the historical texts about the 2004 coup d'état in Haiti, part of the installation of Haiti Holdup. Concordia Media Gallery, Montreal, 2010.
    HH09.jpg
  • Excerpt of legal data of 117 political prisoners following the 2004 coup d'état, played in a looping TV projection in the Haiti Holdup installation. Concordia Media Gallery, Montreal, 2010.
    HH11.jpg
  • Installation shot of TV projection of legal data of 117 political prisoners following the 2004 coup d'état. Concordia Media Gallery, Montreal, 2010.
    HH12.jpg
  • Partial installation view of Haiti Holdup at the Concordia University Media Gallery, curated by Rae Staseson. Montreal, 2010.
    HH02.jpg
  • Excerpt of one of two critical essays commissioned for the exhibition Haiti Holdup. Concordia Media Gallery, Montreal, 2010.
    HH13.jpg
  • Excerpt of one of two critical essays commissioned for the exhibition Haiti Holdup at the Concordia Media Gallery, Montreal, 2010.
    HH15.jpg