Leah Gordon, Andre Eugène, and Alanna Heiss

Co-directors of the Ghetto Biennale Leah Gordon and Andre Eugène, and Clocktower founder/director Alanna Heiss discuss the formation and direction of the Ghetto Biennale, now in its fourth iteration, including backstory, mission, and future goals.

Andre Eugène was born in downtown Port-au-Prince in 1959. He is a leading figure in the artists’ collective known as Atis Rezistans and a broader movement known as the Sculptors of Grand Rue. In 2006, Andre Eugène contributed to a large-scale collective sculptural work, which is a permanent exhibit at the International Museum of Slavery in Liverpool. His work has been shown at the Muesum of Ethnography, Geneva; at the Parc de la Villette, Paris; the Fowler Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles; Nottingham Contemporary, UK and at the Grand Palais, Paris. His work was included in the Haitian Pavillions at the 54th Venice Biennale. Andre Eugène is the co-director of the Ghetto Biennale, which has been held in Port-au-Prince since 2009.

Leah Gordon is an artist and curator making work on Modernism and religion; anthropology and post-colonialism; slavery and industrialization; and class and folk history. Gordon’s film and photographic work has been exhibited internationally, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; the Dak’art Biennale; the National Portrait Gallery, UK; Parc de la Villette, Paris and NSU Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale. Her photography book Kanaval: Vodou, Politics and Revolution on the Streets of Haiti was published in June 2010. She is the co-director of the Ghetto Biennale in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; was a curator for the Haitian Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale; was the co-curator of Kafou: Haiti, History & Art, at the Nottingham Contemporary; on the curatorial team for ‘In Extremis: Death and Life in 21st Century Haitian Art’ at the Fowler Museum, UCLA and will be the guest curator for the 2016 NYC Outsider Art Fair.

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