PORT-AU-PRINCE SESSIONS
Inspired by Sainte dérivée des trottoirs, a text by Haitian writer Faubert Bolivar.
This photographic session was inspired by "Sainte dérivée des trottoirs" (Saint Derived from the Sidewalks), a text by Haitian writer Faubert Bolivar that has been adapted into a theatrical piece. "Sainte dérivée des trottoirs" tells the story of a street prostitute who believes she is a saint; a woman who has suffered incest and is of "questionable" virtue, yet becomes the spokesperson for the oppressed.
Azor, renowned for documenting queer nightlife in the streets of Port-au-Prince, transforms the once majestic, now ruined architecture of this modern structure into a stage for this street prostitute. She is a mystical character, a manbo (a high priestess of voodoo) who delves into the mystery of her birth and invokes her ancestral gods. Here, she preaches, confesses, regrets her mistakes, and expresses her anger. She questions the order of things, at times even insulting herself, believing herself to be the lover of the son of God and of all the men she has known.
Azor’s portraits serve as an invitation to view ourselves through the eyes of this character who speaks for the voiceless, the overlooked, and the marginalized people encountered in the streets of Port-au-Prince every day. She carries a universal discourse, steeped in Haitian reality, challenging us all with a discourse that is "half-mad, half-reason," sometimes hyper-lucid: "In all our history as a people, the only time we were on time was January 1st, 1804," declares the madwoman.
