Eat The Darkness

When some friends told me about a photographer and writer speaking at the library about his work from Haiti, I was a bit apprehensive. I had never heard of Gary Monroe, and I’m a little partial to Alex Webb’s work from Haiti, who I later learned is a friend of Mr. Monroe’s. I was worried that it was going to be a selection of amateurish snapshots put together by some retiree with time and extra money to travel and buy all the latest photo gear. I almost didn’t go. But I didn’t have anything else to do at 2:00 on a Saturday afternoon in this small south Florida town. So I went. And glad I did.

Instead of my cynical, preconceived vision of who my local library would bring in to help celebrate the rich culture of Haiti for the day, I was introduced to a true documentary photographer with a discerning compassionate eye who has traveled through, and lived in Haiti on and off since 1984. In addition to wandering the island photographing daily life in this mysterious and fascinating country, he has documented the mass Haitian migration to south Florida and consequently life at the Krome detention camp near Miami. He followed all this up with seeking out life in the various cities across the state where Haitian immigrants have settled over the years. The result is an exceptional body of work spanning almost 25 years that he is now compiling into a book with the help of the University of North Carolina Press.

I think people throw around the word “documentary photographer” a lot. To me, it has always been a title that few can truly call their own. Some might create documentary-style work, but it’s not their way of life. Monroe doesn’t do a lot, if any, editorial or commercial work. He admits he’s not really equipped for it. And I feel he’s completely fine with it, happy to work only on the projects he wants to work on, teaching full-time, giving talks, selling prints and using grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Florida Department of State’s Division of Cultural Affairs, Florida Humanities Council, and the Fulbright Foundation to pay the bills and fund his work.

The presentation was capped off with a brief conversation with him after the event. He is not only a photographer, but a writer as well, with several published books, including some about the highly regarded Highwaymen, a group of African American artists known for their paintings of the old natural Florida.

Meeting Mr. Monroe and seeing his work was inspiring and a great way to spend a couple hours on a hot lazy Saturday afternoon. I hope to meet him again someday.

All Photographs Copyright © Gary Monroe, All Rights Reserved.

For the small handful of loyal patrons who visit the blog, I apologize for the gap in postings. I’ve been sick and a little uninspired to be honest. I still have this awful cough that just won’t go away. It’s really starting to irritate me, and Jessica too I imagine, since she has to share the bed with me at night. I might have to actually go see a doctor. Although I’m now functioning, able to go to work, etc…I think maybe I have something worse than the common cold.

Enough about that. I had a surprise waiting for me in my mailbox this evening. I received my copy of Jonathan Saunders’ new self-published magazine one, a paper version of his blog I Like To Tell Stories. Unfortunately, it didn’t like my mailbox too much. There is a big crease across the middle where the mail person bent it to fit in the box. Makes it difficult to flip through, and, I’m very particular I guess you could say, about the condition of photo books and related items I purchase. Just ask the people at Amazon’s return center. So, you can imagine, I was not happy at all, but doubt there is anything I can do other than order another and camp out by the mailbox every day until a new one arrives. Not going to happen. My luck Jonathan will blow up one of these days and these little mags will become collectible. But it’s what’s on the inside that counts, right? That’s what I keep telling myself. I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a well designed best-of that includes a variety of self-portraits, personal and commissioned portrait work, landscapes and more. Although I have seen most of the photographs and read most of the words online, it was still nice to receive.