Under a Grudging Sun: Photographs from Haiti Libere 1986-1988 [Paperback]

Alex Webb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1989

Photographically illustrated laminated French-fold wrappers. Photographs and text by Alex Webb. Designed by Janet Doyle.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Magnum photographer Webb visited Haiti at several intervals in the past decade and a half, observing radical shifts in that island's political fortunes, from the brutality of "Papa Doc" Duvalier's regime to the brief freedom following his downfall to a military coup and government-controlled "elections." But, meanwhile, Webb also looked carefully at Haiti's everyday colors and textures, sounds and smells. His 58 color photographs, taken during 1986-88, are vibrantly physical evocations of wind and light brushing against scenes of extreme human privation. Some pictures are gently elegiac: a plantation house dwindling into decay; a waterfall where people bathe, savoring a reprieve from heat and dust. A portrait of four schoolboys saying prayers, each using his own gestural language, offers a striking oasis of calm. In pictures of political victims--whose martyrdom speaks for itself--Webb wisely refrains from editorial comment or compositional cleverness. His attention to the details of a hardscrabble peasant existence, though compromised by the voluptuous glamour of a few images, generally stays true to the workaday energy of Haitians, held tragically in check.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson; First edition (May 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500275440
• ISBN-13: 978-0500275443
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,113,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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