Grafik Popilé Potoprens (Popular Graphics of Port-au-Prince) is an exhibition of more than 100 photographs made over ten days at the 2017 Ghetto Biennale. Initially displayed in a modest tin-roofed-shack-turned-white-cube in the Gran Rue bidonville bounded by Boulevard Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Rue Chareron, the photographs illustrate a topology of apprenticeship across the vast geography of hand-painted graphics in the city. One wall showcased the photo-realist portraiture of the so-called Carrefour school of painters, all loosely connected to the late grandfather of hair-salon painting, Serge Dautant. Opposite, a dense collection of images of works created by Lucas Garry demonstrated his dominance of the scene in the inner-city neighborhoods of lower Delmas, around his home turf of Baz 57 in Solino. Work by the Grand Rue’s own Michel Lafleur covered a third wall. Finally, a broad array of vernacular images from largely unknown painters from every corner of the city and every skill level gave substance to my contention that the walls of Port-au-Prince are themselves a constantly evolving gallery serving as a quotidian reflection of  Haitian culture, identity and aspiration.

Click on any image below to enter the gallery.