Haiti: The perpetual liberation

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The skull of a Madame Sergo is placed on a steel reinforcement bar. Her husband was the owner of a "Fort National" funeral home. He lost 9 family members in the earthquake. Port-au-Prince, 2010 Thomas Kern

Simon Bolivar feeds his youngest son Jason in the make shift hut he set up in a park about 400 meters away from where their house used to be. The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake, with the epicentre near the town of Logne, approximately 25 km west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. Port-au-Prince, 2010 Thomas Kern

View on a section of the "Fort National" neighborhood which was almost entirely destroyed. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake; the Haitian Government reported that an estimated 230,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless. Port-au-Prince, 2010 Thomas Kern

The painter André Pierre was born in Port-au-Prince, around 1915 and moved at an early age to Croix-des-Missions on the outskirts of the capital where he made his living as a farmer. He had practiced vodou since his childhood and in the late 1940’s met with the American filmmaker Maya Deren who had come to Haiti to make a film on dance. Croix-des-Missions, 2004 Thomas Kern

The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake, with the epicentre near the town of Leoagne, approximately 25 km west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. As a result 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. Port-au-Prince, 2010 Thomas Kern

Two young men whose family house at the Route Panaméricaine was destroyed pose on the roof of the ruin. In the background the Canapé Vert neighbourhood. Port-au-Prince, 2010 Thomas Kern

Ministre de l'economie et des finances in downtown Port-au-Prince where most government buildings, including the Presidential Palace which was later demolished, were destroyed through in earthquake. Port-au-Prince, 2010 Thomas Kern

Local "Fort National" residents cleaning up and searching the rubble for victims in a pay-for-work sponsored UN program. Port-au-Prince, 2010 Thomas Kern

An accident with an improvised ambulance. Croix des Bouquets, 2013 Thomas Kern

Saved angels taken out form the Church of Notre-Dame in Petit-Goâves. The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake, with the epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately 25 km west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. Petit-Goâves, 2010 Thomas Kern

View on the completely destroyed middle-class neighborhood of Nerette between Pétionville and Port-au-Prince. Port-au-Prince, 2010 Thomas Kern

A make shift building is set up on a partially cleaned up lot in downtown Petit-Goâves, 2010 Thomas Kern

Tens of thousands of people make a pilgrimage to Saut d'Eau, where the figure of the Virgin Mary once appeared to believers at the foot of a waterfall. The celebrations take place in honour of the Virgin Mary, who finds her counterpart in the Vodou in Erzulie. Erzulie lives in the water and can grant wishes, heal illnesses, find spouses, end bad luck or arrange work. The waterfall is a place of physical and spiritual purification. Ville de Bonheur, 2008 Thomas Kern

Cleaning up team at work in "Fort National", organised by the french government. The narrow streets and alleys of the neighbourhood block access for heavy construction machinery. Reinforced concrete slabs have to be smashed with sledgehammers before the material is carted away in wheelbarrows. Port-au-Prince, 2010 Thomas Kern

While the cleaning up work is going on the iron of the concrete reinforcement bars is immediately recycled for possible use in reconstruction. Port-au-Prince, 2010 Thomas Kern

A young boy handling chopped small stems brought in to Port de Jeremy from the south-east of the island. These poles are mainly used for building purposes. The cutting of these young trees has grave consequences for Haiti's environment. Deforestation leads to increased erosion and ultimately desertification like in large parts of northern Haiti. Port-au-Prince, 2003 Thomas Kern

It is hot inside the tightly spaced make shift shacks this family built, decorated with some childrens drawings. Port-au-Prince, 2010 Thomas Kern

A funeral procession in the Artibonite area near L'Estere, 2015 Thomas Kern

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A skull on a rod sticking out of rubble and a giant crucifix in the middle of a ruined church: these are two of the images taken by swissinfo.ch’s Thomas Kern during a visit to Haiti a few weeks after the earthquake in 2010, one of the worst natural catastrophes of modern times. 

Heaven and hell on Earth – Haiti has long been known as a benighted place of poverty and corruption. Even before the 2010 earthquake destroyed much of the country, it was beset by difficulties inextricably rooted in its history of rebellion and revolution. Since gaining independence from France in 1804, following the only successful slave revolt in the history of the world, Haiti’s past has been characterised by dictatorships, serious conflict, and near-constant social and political unrest, as the country struggles to define its independence and realise its promise.

According to the World Bank, almost 60% of the country’s 10.4 million inhabitants live on less than two dollars a day and more than 24% live on less than one dollar a day, considered extreme poverty. Haiti is also one of the world’s most inegalitarian societies. When it comes to politics, over the past 50 years dictatorships have succeeded military coups. 

On January 12, 2010, at 4.53pm local time, an earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale with its epicentre just 25 kilometres from the capital Port-au-Prince, killed or injured hundreds of thousands of people. Countless buildings were destroyed, including parliament and the cathedral in Port-au-Prince. 

Haiti: The Perpetual Liberation collects some 140 of Kern’s photographs of Haiti, taken in black and white with an analogue camera over the course of twenty years of travel there. As these photographs demonstrate, the people of Haiti remain determined to realise the country’s promise in the face of crushing poverty and crisis; and behind the barrage of bad news that dominates the public image it is a country full of hope and life.

Haiti: The Perpetual Liberation

Photographs by Thomas Kern.
Texts by Georg Brunold, Thomas Kern, and Yanick Lahens.
Edited by Nadine Olonetzky

628 pages in total, 1 color and 142 b/w illustrations, 11 x 16.5 cmExternal link

Three separate text booklets—each in one of three languages: English, German, and Creole—feature texts by Kern on his work and approach to the country, as well as two essays by Swiss journalist Georg Brunold and Haitian novelist Yanick Lahens that provide context and commentary for the images and discuss the country’s people and culture, and its enduring political conflict.