Mise à nue forcée exhibition , 2020 - Galerie 115
Following the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010 in Haiti, Yanick Lahens speaks in her book "Failles" to a ‘’forced laying bare[ mise à nue forcée] ’’of Haitian bodies in western media. She uses this expression to highlight the Westerns’ obscene mediatic coverage that followed the destruction of the bodies and buildings across Port-au-Prince. It was a mise à nue forcée offered to the world in immediate broadcasts that did nothing to contextualize the graphic images that they circulated. In other words, these paternalistic modes of representations were intended to fix Haitian history in a discourse of vulnerability and disaster.
However, in this exhibition, I reclaim Lahens' expression, to recontextualize the idea of a mise à nue forcée as a radical declaration of decoloniality. Each work presents a reconstruction of the fragmented history of Haiti to demonstrate the complexity of the Caribbean identity. (…..) Finally, I Mise à nue forcée, explores the many facets of Haitian cultural identity and its ability to continuously reinvent itself.
