A New Photography Show in Fort Lauderdale Takes a Deeper Look at Haiti

By George Fishman, Miami Herald
June 12, 2015

Everyone has seen the graphically tragic news photos of Haiti: horrific devastation from hurricanes and earthquakes; hunger and homelessness; ferocious political upheavals. For many outsiders, that’s what Haiti is — one disaster after another. With perhaps an “exotic” vodou ritual thrown in.

This tunnel vision excludes elements that Haiti’s own people — and a relative handful of outsiders — have come to know. And one that the organizers of the upcoming exhibition at the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale plan to share.

From Within and Without: The History of Haitian Photography redresses that woefully inadequate picture, not by substituting a glamorized image but through a deep historically rooted comparison of how insiders and visitors represent the country and its people through photography.

Haiti’s photo documentation has been a longtime passion of Edouard Duval-Carrié, who guest-curated this exhibition, assisted by acclaimed photographer Maggie Steber, a former Miami Herald director of photography. Duval-Carrié is a highly recognized artist with extensive curatorial experience, especially with Caribbean-based exhibitions. His research has led him to several important — but little-exposed — collections of photography both within and outside Haiti. NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale director Bonnie Clearwater’s parallel interest converged with Duval-Carrié’s while she was curating an exhibition of Bruce Weber’s photography at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami (MOCA) several years ago.

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Exhibitions

Currently on View

Piero Penizzotto, Kings of Comedy (Chris, Imani, Bernard, Calvin, Dre), 2024 Papier-mâché, foam and acrylic Photography by Oriol Tarridas Courtesy of the Artist and Primary

Close to Home

June 7 - October 4, 2026
William J. Glackens, Along the Marne, 1925, Oil on board, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, bequest of Ira D. Glackens 91.40.107

Defining Landscapes

May 7 - July 26, 2026
Frantz Zéphirin, Ceremonie Zeïdes Medji La Mère des Erzulies (Ceremony of the Zeïdes Medji, the Mother of the Erzulies.), 2016, Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 24 inches, Copyright the artist, courtesy of CENTRAL FINE and El-Saieh.

Frantz Zéphirin: The Messenger

June 7 - October 4, 2026
Asger Jorn, Individuum Ineffable (Ineffable Personality), 1966, Acrylic on paper mounted on canvas, 21.7 x 18.5 in (55.2 x 46.9 cm), NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale; Cobra Collection; gift of Golda and Meyer Marks M-98.30. © 2025 Donation Jorn, Silkeborg / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VISDA; Photograph by Angelika Rinnhofer.

Asger Jorn: Luck and Chance

September 21, 2025 - August 9, 2026