Giovanni Savino is a New York based photographer specialized in editorial, documentary and portrait photography.
Besides his many professional assignments Giovanni is very passionate about a particular project he is working on.
The project is called Batey Dos. It is a photo reportage in one of the poorest Haitian immigrant settlements in the Dominican Republic: Batey numero dos (Batey two).
This is what Giovanni writes about his project:
Since the Haiti earthquake, the number of Haitian nationals illegally crossing the nearby border in search of work and better life conditions has greatly increased.
While not far from the riches and the modern lifestyle of a Dominican city, people here live on an average of ten dollars a day, six months of the year, the other six months, on zero income.
There is a local clinic, just two rooms and a cabinet full of aspirin, painkillers and condoms serving over 8000 Haitian workers.
There has been a great increase in eye problems and blindness amongst the workers because the sugar cane company uses weed killer.
Most of these people own nothing if not the ragged clothes they are wearing. They live in substandard housing, cement and zinc roof shacks built in the 1950’s, often up to 15 people in a room, sleeping amongst dirt, vermin and desperation.
Through this project Giovanni wants to make more people aware about the abysmal conditions these workers and their families live in and possibly become instrumental to bring some tangible help and relief to those very people.
The photographs below are from Batey Dos, they show the sensibility, the respect, the love and passion for the people and the perfect photographic skills Giovanni has gained over many, many years working as a professional photographer.
© copyright all images Giovanni Savino
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