Exhibit: "Haiti: Before the Earth Moved," Photographs by Titus Brooks Heagins

When I first went to Haiti in 1998, I went as did many other photographers'intent on taking cargo in a film canister back to the West (little aware of the similarities between ourselves and those involved in transporting the cargo of the Atlantic slave trade centuries ago). Almost ten years later, by chance, I began living with Haitian families and came to understand that despite their lives of material poverty they were perhaps the most giving people I have encountered in all my travels around the world. Living with Haitians made me a witness to the beautiful movement in their daily lives. I have come to understand that you cannot create an honest portrait of someone unless you know them, respect them, and have shared their love.Haiti does not reveal her secrets easily. Nor does she make everyone privy to her spirit. If she comes to know you, and has taken kindly to you, she can be overwhelmingly generous. I am certain Haiti has laid her mark upon me, and I am grateful. These images are evidence of that mark.¿¿Titus Brooks HeaginsImages from this exhibition were featured at the Institut d¿Études Politiques de Paris in 2010 and at Atlanta Celebrates Photography in 2011. The images here are part of a larger body of work, Haiti: Before the Earth Moved.