#icfjglobal

Brother Anthony of Taizé is a retired English professor and prolific translator of Korean poetry and prose.  He moved to South Korean in 1980 and lives in Seoul with a group of brothers from the monastic Taizé community. Over the past three decades, he's watched Korean literature evolve. 

"It’s very hard to be a writer in Korea because you have no critical community," he says. "Korea does not understand the role of the literary critic.  The only acceptable form of criticism is admiration."

Writer Han Yujoo is thirty-three years old.  She has lived in Korea her whole life, but she says she's not sure her work is particularly Korean. "I have no memory of the Japanese occupation, the Korean War, even the Vietnam War," she says. "I have only the images of 9/11-- the universal theme."

Opening ceremonies for the 2015 Seoul International Book Fair included a performance from the Adopted Korean Children’s Choir, a musical calligraphy performance by calligrapher Lee Sang-Hyun, and this "unique levitation performance."

The fair is hosted by the the Korean Publishers Association, a consortium of 570 publishing companies.  The fair's goal is to facilitate exchange between Korean and International publishers and "promote the reading culture in Korea."

Here are some iphone snapshots taken while documenting the bateys, communities of sugar plantation workers, in the Dominican Republic. Almost all sugar cane workers are Haitian immigrants. I photographed many men who represent thousands more that were brought to the DR for forced, cheap labor in the 1950s and now after working 7 days a week at about U.S.$53/mo. and paying social security for 50 years, they are literally starving to death without their pensions. 

This prayer hung in the headquarters of the non-profit where I stayed. I am not a religious person, but it really resonated with me. It asks God to help immigrants reach a land that won't exploit them or try to strip them of their identity and to give them strength to find their way to a place where they can live in justice, solidarity, and peace. 

Michelle Kanaar

Bony Charles, 66, has been waiting five years for his pension. When he was seventeen a buscon brought him from Haiti to work in a government-owned sugar plantation. A buscon is someone who is paid to recruit people for work. "They [the buscones] sold us to the government for money," he says.  

Speaking of the current deportations of Haitians from the Dominican Republic, Charles says, "It's an abuse, the deportations, they are sending them to Haiti once they are done using them as slaves and have gotten rich off their work."

Thirteen years ago his hands were smashed in a work accident. In this photo he holds up the identification card given to him by former President Trujillo known for his massacre of Haitians (The Parsley Massacre), as well as his involvement in bringing Haitian immigrants into the country to work the sugar plantations. 

Michelle Kanaar

Alister Yan, 75, suffered an accident while working when he slipped and fell onto a sugar cane stalk. Without his pension he could not afford medical care. Now that small wound has become a massive infection with the high threat of spreading internally and causing death. 

Michelle Kanaar

Working in the bateys

Michelle Kanaar