In 2004, Haitian-American photographer Christopher Mitchell went to work on Labor Day. Living in Brooklyn at the time, he decided to take photos during the New York borough鈥檚 famous West Indian Day Parade held every first Monday of September. But he didn鈥檛 shoot the main parade 鈥� instead, he got up before the crack of dawn and joined a procession for J鈥檕uvert, a Carnival celebration celebrated in several Caribbean countries including Haiti.
鈥淚 would always document Carnival in Haiti, and when I was in New York, I would also document American parades and types of festivals (including Carnival),鈥� says the artist, now based in Miami at Bakehouse Studios. 鈥淏ut you have to get up very early to catch the J鈥檕uvert element.鈥�
J鈥檕uvert originates from colonial-era protests by enslaved Africans: Barred from celebrating Carnival, they would vandalize the costumes of white colonial citizens with tar or oil in the early hours of the morning. Mitchell took a similarly radical approach to his own project. He shot from within the crowd rather than inside it, entirely on film and mostly in predawn darkness, experimenting with film stocks that would allow him to work in very low light. A malfunctioning flash meant that the only source of light came from overhead streetlamps.
鈥淭hese images are very much like a time capsule of how things were,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t was a beautiful challenge for me, to be able to shoot during that time when it was mostly film that was available. And I got to try it out in a way that maybe, if I was hired, I doubt a client would want me to do that. But that鈥檚 the beauty of being free 鈥� I wasn鈥檛 hired for this. This is a passion project, so I got to shoot it the way I wanted to see it done.鈥�
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The photos mostly went shelved for years, existing only as a single, self-printed volume in Mitchell鈥檚 studio. It took a visit from Yessica Gispert, an artist, curator and Visiting Assistant Professor of Photography at Florida International University, for them to see the light of day. A show of the photos, titled 鈥淒aybreak鈥� is now on view at P71 Gallery in Little Haiti.
鈥淭his whole project that he put together is in real time. It鈥檚 him walking through the crowd, and when it starts, it鈥檚 at night, and when it ends, it鈥檚 daytime.鈥� Gispert, the show鈥檚 curator, says. 鈥淎nd I was really drawn to that perspective of him being within the crowd versus on the outside, him being a Haitian photographer, being among his community, him being shoulder to shoulder with everyone and enjoying and observing, not in this kind of outsider view, but very much an insider view. It made me think of Gordon Parks, it made me think of also a lot of SNCC photographers who documented the Civil Rights Movement.鈥�
Certainly, the images themselves are striking and dramatic, defined by strong shadows and a dynamic sensibility, with bodies constantly in motion. Light shines off black-painted limbs covered in slick, glossy liquid, a reminder of the celebration鈥檚 origins. The graininess of the photos also confers an appropriately gritty quality.
But there鈥檚 more to the photos than their aesthetics. Time has given Mitchell鈥檚 work an additional resonance: This is, after all, a time before smartphones and omnipresent cameras, and it shows in the faces and movements of the paradegoers.
鈥淧eople don鈥檛 think the way they used to, they don鈥檛 carry themselves the way they used to,鈥� Mitchell says. 鈥淟ike as we鈥檙e editing, we鈥檙e going through 100-plus images and just watching people in the crowd, just being totally lost in the moment, really immersed. Watching people鈥檚 eyes being almost in a trance, like being somewhere else.鈥�
Mitchell points to something that鈥檚 commonly expressed in 2026, that people are so hyperaware of smartphones and potentially being posted on social media that they refuse to express themselves in public. His photos show what the world could be like without this state of mass surveillance: More fun, less inhibited, not afraid.
As the artist says: 鈥淭his is before people even cared about social media.鈥�
IF YOU GO
WHAT: 鈥淐hristopher Mitchell: Daybreak鈥�
WHERE: P71 Gallery, 230 NW 71 St., Miami
WHEN: Opening reception, 6 to 9 p.m., Saturday, May 9. Through Thursday, May 28
COST: Free
INFORMATION:
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