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This is a diary of my photo-documentary of Haiti:
Port au Prince, Jacmel, Carrefour, Leogagne, The Massif de la Selle region,
Mt. Jacmel, Sacre Ceour and Petionville.

Hugeaux is an artist and photographer. He is the creator of ARTE MECCO.

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Hugeaux

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www.hugeaux.com

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Day # 3 / Part #3

August 18
Tuesday / Mardi

It is so peaceful here. I sleep about 10 hours a night here and awake very early in the morning. I dreamt about the countrymen of southern Haiti, which I saw yesterday. This morning before breakfast I took a walk towards the northern part of The Capital and visited the historic church Sacre Coeur. I photographed the church and its surroundings. Along my walk I saw a lot of American product advertisement: Coca Cola, Kool Aid, etc. I made it back to have breakfast with my friend Monsieur. Joseph Guyto. Mr. Guyto is owner of La Fontain Super Boulangerie (The Super fountain Bakery). Monsieur Guyto lives in New York City and owns a bakery in Port au Prince. After breakfast Mr. Guyto invited me to his boulangerie (bakery). He mentioned he wanted me to photograph his boulangerie. It was incredible and very hot. We passed through his rifle carrying security guard to his factory. He produces bread for some of the vender of Port au Prince to sell to the people of Port au Prince. He asked me to photograph his bread factory and employees. He has over 30 people working here and it is very, very, hot. I photographed where they kneaded the bread, the dough, the baking oven, the rising room, the generator ..etc. The factory is in production 24 hours and has shift workers. The factory doesn’t run on electricity, but my a gas generator. After he finished business, we drove to Petionville and he showed me Petionville, mainly the center square. He was my guide. The city of Petionville sits in the mountains. We had to climb up the mountain to get there. In the center of town were the flower dealers and money exchange dealer to name a few. I photographed the area. There is a monument of Alexandre Sabes Petion, who is one of the founding four fathers of The Repubic of Haiti. It is very beautiful here. Mr. Guyto took me to the gas station as I can fill the car. Gas in Haiti is $4.25 a gallon. I didn’t get to see the mansions, but I photographed some of them from the mountainside.

12:00 noon
Today, I finally got to see the intelligent part of my visit to Haiti. I first visited the MUPANAH (Musee de Patheleon National Hatien). I was given a personal tour in English about the history of Haiti from the Indians to the Spanish to the French and finally The African. This museum is a jewel of Haiti, as Haiti is proud to be the first black republic. I saw the official documents, pistol etc., of Toussaint LOuverture. I saw the original anchor of one of Christopher Columbus’s ships. I saw the original portrait of Henri Christophe by Richard Evans. I saw the original pure gold crown of emperor Faustin-Elie Soulouque, made of pure gold, diamonds, turquoise, garnets, etc. I saw the earrings of his wife empress Adelina. I saw the original small flag that Haiti gave to the United States of America to place on the moon from Apollo #11, under the presidency of Richard Nixon. I saw and touched Henri Christophe original safe of the Palais Sans Souci, which was once full with treasures. I saw the hall of presidents. I was surprised that Haiti had a woman president by the name of Ertha Pascel Trouillot (pres. 1990 - 1991). I saw the wall which has all the names of Haitian freedom fighters. There are bust of the four Founding Fathers: L’Ouverture, Dessaline, Christophe and Petion. This is just naming a fews of the many wonderful sites and history of MUPANAH. My guide told me that he was fluent in French, Creole, English and Spanish. I finished my tour of MUPANAH by viewing the present art exhibition of modern Haitian aritsts. There is no photographing in the museum. I then hopped over to the Musee d’Art Haitien. What a surprise. The main entrance was locked, so I walked around the side and found the other main entrance. I learned later why the official entrance was closed. I entered a visual paradise. I couldn’t photograph in the museum. The museum was filled with many Hatian primitive art. Primitive in respect to historic Haitian artists. Many works by renown Haitian artists: Wilson Bigaud (1931 - present), Robert Saint-Brice (1893 - 1973), Jacque E. Gourgue (1931 - 1996), whose fantasy images I really liked, and Hector Hyppolite (1894 - 1948), to name a few. The museum current collection on exhibition is full of many ritual and VooDoo paintings. I spoke totally in French with my tour guide. I was totally amazed that Hector Hyppolite, is the only artists whose personal documents are on display. Hector Hyppolite (1894 - 1948) seemed to document everything. This totally reminded me of one of the purposes of my visit here in Haiti. These original Haitian painting are so inspiring with their color combinations and their playful emotions of fantasy and soulfulness. The bronze sculptures by sculptor Ludovic Booz (1940 - present) was very inspiring as I didn’t know that a realist Haitian sculptor existed. He created a breathtaking bronze, full figure of Hatian founding father Toussaint L’Ouverture and a child sculpture titled: La Tonton. Now the crème of the crème. The reason that the official entrance was closed was because in the entryway was a huge wood tree sculpture of The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This wood sculpture was the bottom half of a huge tree with all the huge roots. This is similar to the images in my photo-documentary (YouTube) of Nassau Sound: The Tree Graveyard, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f82e49k_L8M&feature=fvsr. The sculptor craved into the trunk and roots of the tree, figures of people including Jesus Christ and the cross. It is a full scene. I imagine the sculpture weighs about 1000 plus pounds. The reason it was placed there is because it couldn’t be moved any further pass the entrance door. So, the museum chose to close the main entrance and use the side entrance. These 2 museums are a sight to see and remember in Port au Prince, Haiti. As I made my way back to the hotel I walked across La Plaza and you could see the lovers, young people and others, enjoying the fresh air and soleil (sun). The water fountains were flowing and heavy Creole was hanging over the air. Kompas music and some Zouk music are blasting from the tap-taps, everywhere. Vendors are everywhere. This is a beautiful sight to see all the black skins basking in the soleil and enjoying nature. As, I mentioned earlier, the people are in good physical health. I am extremely exhausted, however in a good way. My entrance back to the hotel is full of the flower fragrance of the trees. The birds are signing as I continue to cross the promenade to my salle (room). The staff is Bon Jour-ing! and Salut - ing! All the way as I pass. Yes this is paradise. When I got to my salle, I turned the radio on and let the Kompas music smooth me before I took a nap and dressed for dinner.

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