La Grand Rue is a wide road that runs along the port and crosses the whole city of Port Au Prince, is the commercial and economic center and the beating heart of the Haitian capital. La Grand Rue is the struggle of everyday in Port Au Prince, from sunrise to sunset and beyond, until the end of the night. La Grand Rue is a tribute to the strength and resilience of the Haitian people. To their infinite grace and dignity. La Grand Rue is a metaphor of the life cycle itself, from birth to death, and again and again. Including miracles.
The essay is the result of several trips to Haiti, made between 2004/2005, during the bicentennial of the country’s independence (a period of intense killings between armed gangs) and between 2010/2011, during and after the tragic earthquake. All images have been taken along La Grand Rue (Avenue Jean Jacques Dessalines) and in some close neighborhoods (Bel Air, Champ de Mars, Cité l’Eternelle, Cité Soleil, La Saline and others).