Haiti, dopo

Un crudo e premiato reportage fotografico racconta le pessime condizioni di Port-au-Prince dopo il devastante terremoto del 2010

A woman carries a basket on her head as a United Nations group from Argentina prepares to help with food distribution in Port Au Prince. The UN started to deliver two scoops of rice in the shirt of each person who lined up. This process almost caused a riot as members of the community began to throw rocks and everyone started to run. Many of the people who were receiving the rice felt insulted that there were no bags in which to put the rice that was being distributed.

Already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere Haiti experienced a cataclysmic earthquake on January 12, 2010. The disaster rocked the nations capital and shook the small country to its core killing more than 230,000 people and displacing several million. These photographs were made in the weeks after the quake in Port au Prince. The epicenter of this magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake was near Léogâne, approximately 25 km (16 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, at a depth of 13 km (8.1 miles). The United States Geological Survey recorded a series of at least 33 aftershocks, 14 of which were between magnitudes 5.0 and 5.9. The International Red Cross estimated that about three million people were affected by the quake. As of February 11, 2010 the Haitian Government raised the death toll from the quake to 230,000 people which is by far the worst disaster in Haitian history and one of the most severe natural disasters in recent memory. More than 500,000 people are currently living in makeshift camps throughout the capital city of Port au Prince. — A woman carries a basket on her head as a United Nations group from Argentina prepares to help with food distribution in Port Au Prince. The UN started to deliver two scoops of rice in the shirt of each person who lined up. This process almost caused a riot as members of the community began to throw rocks and everyone started to run. Many of the people who were receiving the rice felt insulted that there were no bags in which to put the rice that was being distributed. Already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere Haiti experienced a cataclysmic earthquake on January 12, 2010. The disaster rocked the nations capital and shook the small country to its core killing more than 230,000 people and displacing several million. These photographs were made in the weeks after the quake in Port au Prince. The epicenter of this magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake was near Léogâne, approximately 25 km (16 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, at a depth of 13 km (8.1 miles). The United States Geological Survey recorded a series of at least 33 aftershocks, 14 of which were between magnitudes 5.0 and 5.9. The International Red Cross estimated that about three million people were affected by the quake. As of February 11, 2010 the Haitian Government raised the death toll from the quake to 230,000 people which is by far the worst disaster in Haitian history and one of the most severe natural disasters in recent memory. More than 500,000 people are currently living in makeshift camps throughout the capital city of Port au Prince.

Nel progetto Aftershock Haiti, con cui il fotografo statunitense Jon Lowenstein ha vinto il Master Hasselblad Award 2012 nella sezione Editorial, l’isola di Haiti e la sua capitale, Port-au-Prince, sono state fotografate in modo molto soggettivo e personale – le immagini sono scattate con una Polaroid ad alte temperature e in condizioni estreme – dopo il devastante terremoto nel 2010. Il terremoto di Haiti provocò la morte di duecentomila persone e la distruzione di circa centomila case, in un paese già considerato uno dei più poveri al mondo. Ancora oggi, tre anni dopo, circa 500.000 persone vivono in alloggi di emergenza e in condizioni pessime.

Attenzione: la gallery contiene alcune immagini forti

Jon Lowenstein è nato nel 1970, i suoi progetti hanno tutti un approccio riflessivo e autoriale. Le sue fotografie raccontano spesso situazioni di povertà e di violenza. Lowenstein collabora con Noor, un’agenzia olandese creata da un gruppo di fotografi e ricercatori. L’anno scorso la serie Aftershock Haiti è stata esposta al Festival di fotografia Cortona on the Move (qui il programma dell’edizione 2013).

Il Post seguirà con una pagina speciale dedicata alla fotografia le novità legate a Cortona on the move mostrando i lavori delle edizioni passate, e proponendo materiali, articoli e contenuti sulla fotografia in generale.