February 4, 2008
It should be a dream
Bruce Gilden
Haiti. Plain-du-Nord. 1985. © Bruce Gilden/Magnum Photos
Why did you go to Haiti initially?
I went to Haiti because I wanted to do something to supplement my New York work. It wasn't far, it's three and a half hours direct flight from New York City. They have a Mardi Gras in February so that means people are on the street.
A very important factor is that historically Haitians weren't against being photographed. Whereas if you go to some other Caribbean countries, it would be much tougher to photograph. In other words, you'd put your life really in danger. Like Jamaica, if you don't have an 'entre' it's a tough place and they don't take to being photographed as well. If you're going to the areas I go into, you'll lose your camera or you lose your life.
But I should say, none of the pictures that I had seen of Haiti really knocked me out. There wasn't something that I saw, where I said "Wow, I love that picture so much, Haiti must be great for photographs."
What did you feel was lacking from the photographs you'd seen?
A photo either works or it doesn't. And if it doesn't it could be really horrible or it could be mediocre. That's a dialog that for me doesn't even need to be discussed because you see that it's good or it isn't. I'm not saying that everyone has my vision or my eye, but I'm pretty versed in what makes a good image.
What were looking for, visually and in terms of content?
I just go see what I get. I always work in my style but in every country that I go to I always find something a little different. I can sit there and say, "This is what I'm going to photograph" but then you get there and it's all fantasy because it's not what you thought it was.
I started, I think, in '85 during Mardi Gras and I was with my ex wife. We had a rental car and we were driving it from the airport to the hotel - the airport isn't far from downtown Port-au-Prince, lovely Port-au-Prince - and it was a Sunday night. I remember all these people were running to a soccer match in front of the car. I said to my ex wife, "Where have I been all my life?" because I just knew. It was because of all the people and all the activity and it was just great.
So with this photograph…. To me, Haiti has all the things that should make it a great country having a nice climate, being an island. But it's the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. I think if you work in a factory there, you get 3 dollars a day. That doesn't go very far.
If you know the history of Haiti, it was the jewel of the French crown, it was the pearl of the Antilles. It had everything in the 17th century, then it's been totally raped. They have a saying, "the mountains are showing their bones," because of the fact that all the trees are cut down to make fire to cook food. They have nothing, there are no real natural resources left. The only thing they have is cheap manual labor. So this country, that was once idyllic, was raped by all the powers of the day.
A friend of my wife, who used to write for Liberation, has a house in Haiti and he's been going there for 30 years or something. He wrote an article for [Liberation] years ago saying that three or six families own over 90 percent of the wealth.
It's a tough place. But the people there are sweet as sugar, although I've heard it's changing now. I could go out at five o'clock in the morning, they were nice, I'd feel totally safe. I couldn't do that here. If I went out to the South Bronx at five o'clock in the morning you wouldn't see me the next day, or you'd see me in bandages.
Haiti has no tourists because everyone is afraid. The dire poverty - some people can't watch other people eat out of a garbage can on a consistent basis. There's the little kids with red hair, because they're malnourished. And then you go back three months later and the kids aren't there, because they died.
It should be a dream, but it's a nightmare for most of the people living there.
This photograph [photo to the left] was taken at Plain-du-Nord in northern Haiti. Every July they have a mud festival. Tons of people go there. They drink this terrible alcohol tafia [rum distilled from molasses] and they get really drunk and really crazy because it's a voodoo festival. Even though I'd say 20-25 percent of people in Haiti are Catholic, almost 100 percent believe in voodoo. Everyone has this voodoo root.
And this picture sums it up for me. It should be a dream, but it's a nightmare.
I like Plain-du-Nord. They all swim in mud that's about an inch high, they all get very drunk and it's wild. She's in a dream-like state, and this guy could almost be a nasty guy. When a viewer looks at my pictures, I just hope that they make up a story about what goes on.
Does the blur in the background help?
Of course it helps, she looks like she's had a little much to drink, she's dancing in her bra, she's sweating profusely, cigarette in her mouth. And this guy walks by, you don't know if he has anything to do with her, he's got his eyes closed. Is he a sorcerer? I don't know, there's a lot of connotations.
When was the last time you went back to Haiti.
I haven't been there in ages. 1995.
Did you stop going back because the project was done?
A project's never done. You do a book, that's closure. If someone wanted to send me back I'd gladly go, it's my favorite country except for New York.
Bruce Gilden spoke to Ann Tornkvist
Links:
» Bruce Gilden's Magnum Portfolio
» Bruce Gilden's photographs from the Book "Haiti"
» Signed books and prints by Bruce Gilden (From the Magnum Store)
Published on the Magnum Blog on February 4, 2008
© 2007 Magnum Photos and the authors. All rights reserved.
Duplication of any material without author's consent and attribution is expressly prohibited.