Tent Life: Haiti (Exhibit)

October 13, 2011 – November 25, 2011

OAS | AMA F Street Gallery
1889 F St., NW (Corner of 18th Street)
Washington, DC 20006

Hours MON-FRI 9 AM-5 PM

THE EXHIBITION
AMA | Art Museum of the Americas of the OAS presents Tent Life: Haiti, an exhibition of photographs by Wyatt Gallery and Young Haitians with Disability: 28 Winning Drawings.

Wyatt Gallery- the name of a person, not a place- visited Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake, using his camera to chronicle the lives of displaced Haitians living in tent communities.  The resulting photo series highlights uprooted people working independently to improve their conditions.  These images are collected in a book, Tent Life: Haiti, which depicts scenes of people living with undeterred resilience in the face of daunting circumstances, employing resourcefulness rather than waiting for outside aid.

Wyatt Gallery is a Fulbright Fellow, PDN 30 rising star, past professor at University of Pennsylvania, and has been published in the New York Times, Geo Saison, Esquire, Mother Jones, Newsweek, and more.   He studied photography at the Tisch School of The Arts at New York University where he received his BFA In 1997.  In 1998, Wyatt began traveling the Caribbean photographing Spiritual Sites through a Rosenberg grant.  He spent two years in Trinidad on a Fulbright Fellowship, photographing its religious places, landscapes, people, and homes.

Also on display will be “Young Haitians with Disability,” which is made up of drawings by young Haitians resulting from an initiative of the Haitian Secretary of State for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities.  Haitian youth participated in a drawing contest based on the importance of building an inclusive society and incorporating the concept of universal accessibility as a fundamental aspect of the rebuilding effort in the country after the earthquake.

The OAS Department of Social Development and Employment sponsored an exhibition of 28 drawings at AMA’s Photo Gallery as a means of highlighting the talent of the young Haitian artists involved, the powerful message their works portray, and raising awareness about the challenges and opportunities for persons with disabilities in a post-earthquake Haiti.

For more information, see the Museum’s website or the Tent Life website