15th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest People
City Soleil : Varied narratives within the city

This is a story of a small village in Haiti. City Soleil, also known as Sun City, is a minute port town within Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. It was only last year that I heard about this little village through one of my acquaintances. He approached me with a question, “Have you ever imagined a place where people share their lives with pigs?” I could not envision such a place. ‘Could there be such a place on this earth? If so, what would it look like?’ With a feeling of doubt and uncertainty, I decided to visit and find out for myself. That is how I landed on Haiti. I had no idea what I would see once I got there. All I wanted to do was go and search for a narrative of the marginalized, embrace their story, and become their storyteller. In my heart, I needed to find hope in their story of despair. Though it was a brief visit, the story of their life is still vivid and even more so when I now close my eyes and remember. This project began with a question and continued as I entered their lives with my 35mm camera.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 08.2017
Date Uploaded: 11.2017
Photo Location: City Soleil, Haiti
Camera: LEICA M (Typ 240)
Copyright: © Urim Hong