Leah Gordon Explained

Leah Gordon (born 1959) is a British photographer, artist, curator, writer and filmmaker.^[1] Her work explores the intervolved and intersectional histories of the Caribbean plantation system, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the Enclosure Acts and the creation of the British working-class. She has made various work in Haiti, such as the photographs of Kanaval, which was published in 2021 by Here Press and exhibited at the New Art Exchange, Nottingham in 2012; and the documentary film Kanaval: A People's History of Haiti in Six Chapters (2022, with Eddie Hutton-Mills).^[2]

Work

Gordon has made various photographic work in Haiti, such as about Haitian Carnival (Kanaval);^{[3] [4] [5]} Freemasons;^{[6] [7]} the three-tiered racial classification system created by the 18th-century French colonialist Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry;^{[1] [8] [9] [10]} and the tailors of Port-au-Prince.^[11] She has also made photographic work about airport prayer spaces.^{[12] [13]}

She is a co-founder of Ghetto Biennale, a biannual international contemporary arts exhibition in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.^{[14] [15] [16]}

Publications

• Kanaval: Vodou, Politics and Revolution on the Streets of Haiti. London: Soul Jazz, 2010. Photography by Gordon. . With essays by Madison Smartt Bell ("Spirit sources of the Haitian Revolution"), Donald Cosentino ("Aristocrats"), Richard Fleming ("Kanaval"), Kathy Smith ("Lansetkòd: memory, mimicry, masculinity") and Myron M. Beasley ("The performance of possibilities").^[17]
  • Revised and expanded second edition. London: Here, 2021. . Includes new photographs and oral histories. With essays by Gordon ("Transgressive Histories and Disorderly Ancestors"), Madison Smartt Bell, Kathy Smith, and Myron M. Beasley.
• Ghetto Biennale = Geto Byenal: 2009–2015. London: No Eraser, 2017. Compiled by Gordon. . Illustrated catalogue documenting the first four Ghetto Biennale events. With written contributions by Emilie Boone, Léonard Jean Baptiste, Makenson Bijou, Claudel Casseus, Rossi Jacques Casimir, John Cussans, Jean D'Amérique, Peter Haffner, Charlotte Hammond, John Kieffer, Jean-Daniel Lafontant, Elizabeth McAlister, Polly Savage and Katherine Smith.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• Kanaval: Vodou, Politics and Revolution on the Streets of Haiti, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, 2012^[18]

Exhibitions curated by Gordon

• Pòtoprens: The Urban Artists of Port-au-Prince, curated by Gordon and Edouard Duval-Carrié. Includes work by 25 Haitian artists. Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, New York, 2018. With work by Katelyne Alexis, Josué Azor, Karim Bléus, Myrlande Constant, Ronald Edmond, André Eugène, Guyodo (Frantz Jacques), Celeur Jean Hérard, Michel Lafleur, Dubréus Lhérisson, Ti Pelin (Jean Salomon Horace), Evel Romain, Jean Claude Saintilus, Maggie Steber, Roberto Stephenson, and Yves Telemaque.^{[19] [20] [21] [22]}

Films

• A Pig's Tale – documentary; commissioned for Channel 4; 52 mins
• Atis Rezistans: The Sculptors of Grand Rue – 32 mins
• Bounda pa Bounda: A Drag Zaka – documentary; 20 mins

All three films are compiled on the Iron in the Soul: The Haiti Documentary Films of Leah Gordon DVD from Soul Jazz Records.^[23]

• Kanaval: A People's History of Haiti in Six Chapters (2022) – documentary; co-directed with Eddie Hutton-Mills; 74 mins^[24]

See also

• Charles Fréger
• Phyllis Galembo
• Homer Sykes

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2022-01-14. Leah Gordon's best photograph. 20 June 2012. The Guardian.
2. News: Phuong. Le. 2023-03-05. Kanaval: A People's History of Haiti in Six Chapters review – spirited and striking. The Guardian. 11 November 2022. 0261-3077.
3. Web site: 2022-01-14. Behind the mask: Kanaval captures the hidden Haiti. Sean. O'Hagan. Sean O'Hagan (journalist). 6 July 2010. The Guardian.
4. Web site: 2022-01-14. Juxtapoz Magazine - Leah Gordon's Photographs of Kanaval in Haiti. www.juxtapoz.com. 20 June 2013 .
5. Web site: 2022-01-14. Fright Night. Bruno. Bayley. 2 June 2010. www.vice.com.
6. Web site: Joshua. Jelly-Schapiro. June 2, 2018. 2022-01-14. Picturing Haiti's Freemasons. The New York Review of Books.
7. Web site: 2022-01-14. Leah Gordon photographs the Freemasons of contemporary Haiti. 29 June 2017. Lucy. Bourton. www.itsnicethat.com.
8. Web site: Mark. Sheerin. 2022-01-14. Interwoven Histories: Exploring Britain and Haiti. 15 May 2014. Hyperallergic.
9. Web site: 2022-01-14. Leah Gordon: 'Caste' The Nine Degrees Of Skin Color. Evelyne. Politanoff. 5 July 2012. HuffPost.
10. Web site: 2022-01-14. Picture preview: Leah Gordon portraits of Caste. 8 June 2012. The Independent.
11. Web site: 2022-01-14. New Writing: Leah Gordon and the Tailors of Port-au-Prince. 12 October 2016. Photoworks.
12. Web site: 2022-01-14. Дворец аминя. Esquire Russia. 12 September 2014.
13. Web site: 2022-01-14. Photographing Prayer Spaces in Airports Around the World. Kadish. Morris. 21 August 2017. AnOther.
14. Web site: 2022-01-14. Le Guide Vice de l'Art contemporain. Théophile. Pillault. www.vice.com. 19 January 2016.
15. Web site: Myriam. Vanneschi. 2022-01-14. The Many Contradictions of a "Ghetto Biennale". 27 December 2013. Hyperallergic.
16. Web site: 2022-01-14. The Biennial Questionnaire: Leah Gordon. artreview.com. 20 November 2013.
17. Web site: 2022-01-14. Leah Gordon: Kanaval in Haiti. www.telegraph.co.uk. 13 July 2010 .
18. Web site: 2022-01-14. Leah Gordon: Kanaval - Vodou, Politics And Revolution On The Streets Of Haiti. a-n.co.uk.
19. News: Roberta. Smith. 2022-01-14. Four Knockout Group Shows to See Now. The New York Times. 19 October 2018. 0362-4331.
20. Web site: Valentina Di. Liscia. 2022-01-14. The Transcendent Spirit of Haitian Contemporary Art. 3 November 2018. Hyperallergic.
21. Web site: Amber Jamilla Musser and Maureen. Catbagan. 2022-01-14. PÒTOPRENS: The Urban Artists of Port-au-Prince'. 3 October 2018. The Brooklyn Rail.
22. Web site: 2022-01-14. Kaelen. Wilson-Goldie. 'PÒTOPRENS: The Urban Artists of Port-au-Prince. www.artforum.com. 30 November 2018 .
23. Web site: 2022-01-14. Iron in the Soul: – The Haiti Documentary Films of Leah Gordon. soundsoftheuniverse.com.
24. Web site: 2023-03-05. Kanaval: keeping Haiti's history alive. 25 November 2022. New Internationalist.