Exhibition: Metal Head, Westminster Reference Library, London, UK
Series: Metal Head
I packed my bags and boarded a plane to Haiti to live and work as the pharmacist in a small hospital of a village called Limbé. I was a teenager with no pharmacy background. Upon arrival, the new president was sworn into power and life dissolved into a series of military coups, evacuations of foreigners, machete attacks and the complete disintegration of law and order. I stayed put through it all and survived. Then came the blow: a car accident in the Haitian countryside that would kill the person next to me, shatter my skull and half of my face, leaving me with three permanent, stainless-steel plates in my head. These are my markers.
Years after Haiti, I passed by a mirror and caught sight of my reflection. The fractures and misalignments were evident, and suddenly aware of how stripped-down life is, it seemed vital to reflect and re-look. The Metal Head series comes through continuous hours in front of a mirror, face-mapping for signs and markers that follow a journey.
