In 2010, a magnitude seven earthquake hit the tiny Caribbean nation of Haiti, killing hundreds of thousands of people. Support flooded in from around the world, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie donated $1 million, Sean Penn set up a relief organization. But then the eyes of the world turned away from Haiti, to other horrors, other disasters.
Veteran photographer Giles Clarke has been visiting Haiti since 2011, running photography workshops for film students at the Cine Institute—Haiti's only free-tuition film school. His latest series "Waste in Time" documents the lives of 2000 Haitians he discovered working on a massive government-owned dump, just outside of Port-au-Prince.
You've shot all around the world and, obviously, scavenging is central to the economy in many poor communities. What made you want to shoot this dump in particular?
The difference about this one was the fact that the dump used to be a water source. This is where it's sort of symbolic of the Haitian corruption... I think it is 163rd worst country in the world in terms of corruption. The worst thing about it is obviously the the trucks that come there are all government paid and yet there's no regulation of what they dump. There are no medical providers, you see it in the pictures, people are just working in the most horrific of conditions.
How did the Haitians there respond to you photographing their lives?
It's not somewhere I was welcome to start with. It's hostile. But I went back a few times and eventually I became somewhat accepted and I began shooting. Many of these people are under 18, with some on the run from authorities. There's simmering gang violence, there's a lot of drug taking. It's a version of hell on earth but it's also a source of income and home to well over 1,500 people.
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