In Their Words: Haitian Immigrants in New York Describe Perilous Escape
The New York Times
Dieu Nalio Chery, a photojournalist, fled Haiti after gangs threatened his life. His latest subjects are others who, like him, are far from home.
As a young man, Dieu Nalio Chery fell in love with photography while working in his uncle’s photo studio in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. But after a powerful earthquake devastated the country in 2010, he turned what had been a freelance pursuit into a profession, going to work for The Associated Press in Haiti.
For the next decade, he crisscrossed the island nation, documenting major news events and focusing on human rights issues as they emerged. In a country with a literacy rate of 61 percent, Mr. Chery’s photographs were a potent means of informing the public. Last year, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for photography for his images of unrest there.
Then in July, he had to flee Haiti after gangs threatened his life. He is now living in New York on a cultural exchange visa and has turned his attention to documenting Haitians who have been living in the city since the federal government extended special protections to them under the Temporary Protection Status, or TPS, program.
