Alex Morel

United States of America (USA), 1973

BiographyAlex Morel was born in New York in 1973 of Dominican parents, and was raised in both the United States and the Dominican Republic. He studied at St. John’s University completing his BFA in 1997, was part of the fulltime program in General Studies in Photography at ICP during 1994 - 1995, and finished the MFA program at Rutgers University in 2001. His personal work has been exhibited nationally and internationally since 1995. In 2002 he received the ELJ Biennale Award from the “Centro Leon” museum, Dom. Rep., and the “Fotomuseum Winterthur” in Switzerland presented the first solo survey of his work in 2005. Since 2000, he has taught visual arts and photography in several institutions of higher education, and has been a “Visiting Artist” at several educational and cultural institutions in the United States and abroad. He resides in New York, and is currently teaching at St. John’s University.

Artist statement
Haiti's recent history has been one of economic, political and social deterioration. The capacity of its people to withstand hardship and exercise hope is tested every day, and when it seems that some progress is being made, something happens that threatens to push the limits even deeper into the pit of calamities.
The recent earthquake, which claimed over a quarter of a million lives and devastated the city of Port Au Prince and other regions, has left the country in an unprecedented situation where not only lives and infrastructures have crumbled, but the psyche of its people has been shaken to the core.
"Change," as a theme in this body of work, lays in the completely altered landscape of the city and the lives of its citizens; in the painful and inevitable reconstruction of a country and countless lives; and in the new possibilities and hope that arise from the dust after the quake.
Since the late ‘90s I have been working in the Caribbean looking at contemporary life in the region. In this extensive body of work the personal and the social, the landscape and culture, current events and traditions are closely linked. The earthquake of January 12th 2010 in Haiti became a defining moment in the history of the country. It also brought together collaboration of the global community in a rarely seen and promising way. Hopefully, it will mark the beginning of a brighter era for the people of Haiti.

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