Haitian Migrant Workers by Reed Young (March 23, 2010) 
(21 votes, average: 3.71 out of 5)
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Introduction by Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer
In many ways, the jobs of a photographer and a writer aren’t so terribly different. As editors of the website Sight Unseen, our role is to look at the world through a lens of our own making, gathering people’s stories. The photography that accompanies these written works on Sight Unseen could well stand on its own, but we’ve become accustomed to presenting images as source material to illustrate and interpret our stories. We seldom have the chance to put the imagery first. For our presentation on Bite! magazine this week, we seized the opportunity to do just that, reaching out to photographers with a keen narrative sense of their own. The series they present here are poignant visual essays with no need for translation. Many of the photographers we chose are documentarians, who peer into the lives of everyday people and record what they find there, the others are multidisciplinary artists with a gift for storytelling and creative composition.
Former editors at I.D. Magazine, the design magazine, writers Jill Singer and Monica Khemsurov are the co-founders of Sight Unseen, a new journalistic and curatorial consultancy.
Weblink: sightunseen.com
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Our poll "A photo essay always needs a great written story" closed. 267 people voted, 28% agrees, 72% disagrees. 233 people answered our follow-up question "Are you a photographer?" 82% indicated they are, 18% said no. Initially, negative answers to question #1 were almost 100% as was the pecentage of photographers among respondants. Then, when the level of non-photographers started to rise, the percentage of people indicating good text is always essential started to rise too. This seems to indicate that non-photographers think that adding good text to your photo essays is essential. In my opinion: if you want non-photographers to dig your work, you know what to do...
Lost in the vast sugarcane fields of the Dominican Republic, there are hundreds of small villages called bateys. These underdeveloped towns were established in the beginning of the 20th Century to house migrant Haitian workers during the sugarcane season. The bateys were intended to be seasonal towns. But in the last 40 years, the Dominican Republic has become a symbol of hope and prosperity for the Haitians. Because of this, more and more Haitians have discontinued going back to Haiti after the season and have started families in the bateys.
In theory, this sounds ideal. But the infrastructure for a permanent population remains unmet in the bateys. The schools have little to no funding; there’s no running water or plumbing; and trash collection is obsolete. Another problem plaguing these small communities is the lack of legal documentation of citizenship. Without the basic rights as a citizen, most of these people are denied education and healthcare. This has created significant social status issues, which will only improve with the help of humanitarian organizations.
At the time I took these pictures, my friend Rachel Gottesman lived in this small batey called Las Pajas. Rachel invited me to stay with her for a few days, and it was an eye-opening, unbelievable experience. Even though the problems plaguing the bateys are similar, each person had a unique story to tell.
In the end, I was the biggest beneficiary of all. I was honored to learn about their lives. Despite having nothing but each other, they’re more content than most people I meet in the more developed world. I also discovered that money alone isn’t the solution to helping impoverished people. What they need more is education, healthcare and correct nutrition.
Reed Young (1982) lives and works in New York City, USA.
Click weblink reedyoung.com or browse our archives
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