When Haitian artists Jerry “Twoket” Chery and Michel Lafleur were barred from boarding their plane from the Dominican Republic, it was terrible but not entirely unexpected.
The two men were travelling to Melbourne, Australia for the Ghetto Biennale, an exhibition started in 2009 by the Port-au-Prince collective Atis Rezistans when several of its artists were denied entry to the US after being invited to take part in an exhibition in Miami. Haitians have less freedom of movement than most nationalities on Earth – so if they could not go to the art world, Atis Rezistans would make the art world come to them.
If you are in Melbourne, you can see the Ghetto Biennale in Chapter House as part of Rising festival. The show features sculpture, music and painting, much of which is inspired by Vodou customs – including works made with human skeletons. The bones of dead Haitians have less trouble travelling than living artists: one skeleton in the show is that of an unnamed man who never travelled overseas in his lifetime, but has been to Boston, New York, Germany and Australia while dead.
“It is easier to tour the bones of a dead Haitian than it is for a Haitian to travel – unless if you’re of the wealthier class or have US citizenship, which is a very small portion of the population,” says Rising curator Grace Herbert, who says the container that brought the bones into Australia “was waved through without issue”.
But on 8 June, Rising festival staff woke to news that Twoket and Lafleur had been stopped from boarding their plane at Punta Cana on their way to London’s Gatwick airport. The festival, which had enlisted the help of immigration lawyers, travel agents and the Australian government for months to make sure the men could come for their show, scrambled to find out why.
Haitian travellers need visas just to transit through most airports around the world, and face protracted waiting times when applying for them. Due to the current turmoil in Haiti, the wait time for even a US transit visa is several months long.
Having exhaustively researched the men’s options to travel to Australia through Europe, the US and South America, Rising festival made the call to fly them from Punta Cana to London Gatwick: a rare visa-less option for Haitians as it had airside transit facilities, meaning passengers did not need to pass through UK border control. From there, the men would fly to Qatar and then Australia, having secured visas for both countries and the Dominican Republic after months of work.
However, no one knew that Gatwick’s airside transit facilities were quietly closed during the pandemic and have not reopened since. Such facilities are simply not needed by most holidaymakers passing through the airport, but are crucial for people like Twoket and Lafleur. The Home Office continues to advise that Haitians do not need UK visas to transit airside – but with their only airside option closed on 8 June, the Home Office ordered airline staff in Punta Cana to not let the men board their plane, as they had no UK visas. (The Home Office have not responded to requests for comment.)
After a day of frustration, and as people all over the world scrambled to find a solution, Twoket and Lafleur returned to Haiti.
Tom Bogaert, a Belgian artist and frequent collaborator with Atis Rezistans who was in Melbourne at the time, shared his sadness with Rising. “I am writing this post on [Michel’s] behalf as well. We cannot help but view this situation as an absolute low point,” he wrote in an email, describing the situation as “absurd and injust”.
“In this specific case, a former Empire has callously barred the transit of two members of an internationally esteemed and award-winning artist initiative who were invited to one of its ex-colonies.”
“Danger is everywhere in Port-au-Prince, I was there in March – as a white artist from the north I have the privilege to travel anywhere I want. I can go to see Michel, but he cannot travel to meet me,” Bogaert tells the Guardian.
“Rising did their best, but it seems Michel and Twoket are in the same situation as 15 years ago when they started the Biennale. We feel miserable and helpless. Imagine your flight being canceled – it’s that feeling, times 100. They were so close.”
Michel and Twoket were set to paint and perform among the art in Chapter House. “While western audiences might be used to still exhibitions, for the Haitian artists it is integral for them to bring the work to life through spiritual, Vodou and musical practice in the space. So it has been really sad not to have Michel and Twoket,” Herbert says.
Rising festival contacted Vodou priest Jean-Daniel Lafontant, who was in Germany and has connections with Ghetto Biennale, to ask him to come to Melbourne to perform instead.
“He lives in Miami and has US citizenship, so travelling is a very different experience for him,” says Herbert. “I think he was feeling strange about the whole thing because it’s not his work or show. But he wanted to support them, we all do. We feel very connected to these guys and it feels awful. I want them to know that their work has been so well received and people are really engaging with it.”
“The exhibition looks great, but of course it’s missing Haitians – it’s missing their voice and their presence,” says Bogaert. “This is something that we cannot replace with apologies.”
Ghetto Biennale is free to visit at Alpha60 Chapter House, Level 2/195 Flinders Lane, until 11pm on Sunday
