Haiti, Plain-du-Nord
Bruce Gilden
American, born 1946
1988
A gelatin silver print by Bruce Gilden that confronts the viewer with an urgent, close-up moment in Plain-du-Nord, Haiti, using flash and tight cropping to document and provoke a visceral response.
You feel almost inside the frame: a sweat-glazed woman with a cigarette and a man filling the right edge are rendered in harsh, high-contrast flash while blurred lights and a child's shocked face churn behind them, creating a claustrophobic, kinetic immediacy.
This image exemplifies Gilden's confrontational street-photography style—close-range flash portraits that pushed documentary practice toward a raw, bodily immediacy and influenced later photographers seeking similarly visceral encounters.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
18 7/8 × 12 1/2" (47.9 × 31.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Fellows of Photography Fund
Accession
403.1992
Palette
Exhibitions
