Overview:
Imayiti FestiFoto 2025, an occasion organized by the affiliation Kolektif Fotograf Ayisyen (KaFA), showcased Haitian and worldwide photographers who utilized pictures as instruments of testimony and storytelling. The weeklong pageant, aligned with World Images Day, highlighted id, creativity and Haiti’s place in world visible arts.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Marking World Images Day, Haiti launched its inaugural Imayiti FestiFoto from Aug. 13 to 19, an occasion completely devoted to showcasing Haitian images. Held on the Michel Tardieu Library, the weeklong pageant introduced collectively 25 native and worldwide photographers below the theme “Lavi isit pa bout” — Creole for “life right here doesn’t cease.”
With exhibitions, workshops, screenings and roundtables, the pageant offered an area the place artists and audiences may join. Organizers said that the purpose was to emphasise images’s function not solely as artwork but in addition as a software for documenting on a regular basis struggles and resilience.
“Haiti wants higher training and consciousness about sharing pictures,” mentioned Nerla Preserve, the pageant’s communications lead.
Internationally famend Haitian photographer and conceptual artist Zarita Zevallos was among the many highlights. Recognized for exploring themes of id, gender and social injustice, her work was showcased though she couldn’t attend in individual. Organizers mentioned her inventive imaginative and prescient added depth to the pageant and emphasised how images can function each a sworn statement and a reminiscence.
Connecting worldwide and native expertise
Among the many 25 contributors on this first version are photographers from Africa, equivalent to Moussa Djamine MD Touré from Ivory Coast, nominated for the 2025 African Images Awards, and Fatoumata Diabaté, an award-winning photographer from Mali acknowledged worldwide. Their contributions provided views that discovered magnificence in on a regular basis particulars.
Haitian photographer Louvensky Charlemagne, from Gressier, mentioned the chance carried particular which means.
“Taking part on this exhibition is a real recognition of my work and my inventive imaginative and prescient,” Charlemagne mentioned. “It’s a uncommon alternative to share my universe, my feelings, and my sensitivity with the general public, whereas additionally creating an area for dialogue and trade.”
“My photographs make clear Haiti’s social, cultural, and political realities. My method is to seize genuine moments that replicate the complexity and richness of our each day lives.”
Jean Elie Fortiné, photographer
As a result of security considerations and journey difficulties from Gressier to Port-au-Prince, Charlemagne was unable to attend in individual. His work was offered by Nidjensky Smaïl Platel, who represented him on the pageant.“My photographs make clear Haiti’s social, cultural, and political realities,” mentioned Jean Elie Fortiné, photographer and manufacturing director on the native journal Dèyè Mòn Enfo. “My method is to seize genuine moments that replicate the complexity and richness of our each day lives.
As guests moved by means of the exhibition, they had been invited to discover the layers of which means embedded in every body. Fortiné’s pictures inspired audiences to consider the tales behind every picture. From capturing a fleeting gesture in a busy avenue to peaceable rural scenes, his photographs conveyed a way of function. They reminded viewers that behind each image is a narrative value sharing, and that within the Haitian context, images can function each an act of resistance and a solution to protect reminiscence.
“Taking part on this exhibition is a real recognition of my work and my inventive imaginative and prescient. It’s a uncommon alternative to share my universe, my feelings, and my sensitivity with the general public, whereas additionally creating an area for dialogue and trade.”
Louvensky Charlemagne, photographer
“This exhibition is each a showcase of my journey and an opportunity to interact with the general public about images as a software of reminiscence and testimony,” Fortuné mentioned.
KaFA: the soul of the challenge
Behind the pageant is Kolektif Fotograf Ayisyen (KaFA), a gaggle of photographers, filmmakers, and journalists based in 2024 that gives a artistic platform the place artists and media professionals from numerous backgrounds can share their views. The collective’s mission is to inform Haiti’s story by means of visible artwork whereas constructing collaboration and trade throughout generations of creators.
“This exhibition is each a showcase of my journey and an opportunity to interact with the general public about images as a software of reminiscence and testimony.”
Jean Elie Fortiné, photographer
Via mentorship, coaching, and exhibitions, KaFA hopes to strengthen Haiti’s visible tradition at house and overseas. Members mentioned their purpose is to protect cultural reminiscence, amplify Haitian voices, and place images as each a software of resilience and a solution to join globally.
Between the press of cameras and the conversations of the exhibit’s guests, Imayiti FestiFoto confirmed that images is alive within the nation and continuously evolving. From on a regular basis life and neighborhood celebrations to acts of solidarity, the works on show mirrored the vitality and creativity of a brand new technology.
The pageant concluded on World Images Day, a big milestone for Haiti in disaster. Though the exhibition on the Michel Tardieu Library has completed, it made an enduring affect — a tribute to Haitian creativity, resilience and the tales captured by means of every lens. Guests and artists left impressed by the spirit of a nation that continues to create and thrive regardless of hardships.
For its subsequent version, organizers intention to safe a bigger venue, entice extra worldwide photographers and develop training and coaching alternatives associated to images. They need the pageant to additional set up itself as an enduring image of Haitian tradition and resilience.
“Younger individuals are partaking with images, however they want steerage and path. We hope these initiatives attain a wider viewers and permit Haitian images to shine internationally,” Preserve mentioned.