Qualifications::

1980-1983       BA Hons in Film & Photographic Arts from Polytechnic of Central London
1991-1992       Post Graduate Diploma in Photojournalism from London College of Printing
2004-2006       MA in Photographic Studies from University of Westminster

Short Biography::

Leah Gordon (born 1959 Ellesmere Port) is a photographer, film-maker and curator who has, in recent years, produced a considerable body of work on the representational boundaries between art, religion, anthropology, colonialism and folk history. In 2006 she commissioned the Grand Rue Sculptors from Haiti to make 'Freedom Sculpture', a permanent exhibit for the International Museum of Slavery in Liverpool and in 2008 she completed the film, 'Atis-Rezistans: the Sculptors of Grand Rue'. Continuing her relationship with the Grand Rue artists, Gordon organised and co-curated the Ghetto Biennale in December 2009. She has recently been involved in a range of projects as film-maker, photographer or curator, including films documenting experiences of homophobia in London, colonial legacy and the museum in Maputo and links between the Slave Trade and the River Thames; her photography book 'Kanaval: Vodou, Politics and Revolution on the Streets of Haiti' was published in June 2010 whilst her photography was shown in a solo show at Riflemaker Gallery. Gordon is currently on the curatorial teams for the first Haitian Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale and the major US show of Haitian art, 'In Extremis' at the Fowler Museum. UCLA, Los Angeles.

Selected Photography Exhibitions::

2011       Haiti Pavillion, New Orleans International Jazz Festival
2011       Black States of Desire, University Paris Diderot http://caar2011.caar-web.org/index.php?id=212
2011       Side Gallery, Newcastle
2010       The Invisibles, Solo show, Riflemaker Gallery, London
2010       Work shown in 'For Intérieur' curated by Michel Poivert at Voies-Off, Rencontres d'Arles, France.
2009       Kreyol Factory, Parc de la Villette, Paris
2009       Voo-Doo, Riflemaker Gallery, Soho, London
2009       Solo Show, Photofusion, London
2008       Kanaval, Institut Français, Port au Prince, Haiti
2007       Museum of Collaboration, Four Corners, London
2006       We’re all in the Gutter, Capitales Inconnues, FIAP Paris, Megnyita Budapest & Seoul
2005       Arte Naif Brasil Haiti, Museu Arte Brasileira & Museu Internacional de Arte Naif Brasil, Rio de Janeiro
2004       Kanaval, Brunei Gallery, SOAS London
2003       Ghost Train, Wiebke Morgan Gallery, Hoxton, London
1996       John Kobal Award, National Portrait Gallery, London

Publications::

2010       Kanaval: Vodou, Politics and Revolution on the Streets of Haiti, Soul Jazz Publishing
2010       Kanaval: A People's History of Haiti, Small Axe: Caribbean Platform for Criticism #33
2010       Took My Heart..., Haiti Rising: Haitian History, Culture and the Earthquake of 2010, ed. Martin Munroe,
               Liverpool University Press (2010)
2008       The Emasculated Possession, Journal of Haitian Studies (vol 14 number 2)

Curating::

2012       Co-curating, with Alex Farquharson, Haitian Arts show at the Nottingham Contemporary
2012       Member of curatorial team for 'In Extremis', Fowler Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles
2012       Co-curating, with Ranu Mukherjee, 'Ancestors', Los Angeles
2011       Curating the 2nd Ghetto Biennale, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
2011       Co-curating, with Daniele Geminini, Haitian Pavillion at Venice Biennale
2009       Founder, organiser and co-curator of the Ghetto Biennale held in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. download pdf review
2007       Free-lance curator for the International Museum of Slavery, Liverpool for Haitian sculpture commission.
2000       Co-curated ‘Catching the Spirit’, exhibition at October Gallery and organised a symposium exploring
               Haitian art and its symbiotic relationship with Vodou.
1996       Curated the exhibition ‘Sacred Voodoo Flags of Haiti’ at the October Gallery.
1995       Curated and exhibited in ‘Haiti: Photos, Paintings and Ironworks’ at the October Gallery, London, WC1.

Speaking Engagements::

2011       Performing Resistance, Society for Caribbean Studies 35th Annual Conference, Liverpool Slavery Museum
2011       Lecture programme and social practice workshop at California College of the Arts, San Francisco.
2011       Guest speaker at the Triennial Meeting of the Arts Council of the African Studies Assoc. at UCLA, Los Angeles.
2010       Speaker at Indo-Caribbean Assoc., Warwick University - November
2010       Guest speaker at the Opening Forum of the 17th Sydney Biennale: Power, Poverty, Equality and Freedom
                (and how we relate to art...), Art Museum of NSW, Sydney
2010       Artists panel for the 'Mumbo Jumbo' conference of Black Atlantic Arts and Religious Practice at Dept.
                of World Art at UCLA, Los Angeles, USA.
2009       In conversation at Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris.
2008       Dept. of Afro-American Studies at Bates College, Maine, USA.

Teaching::

2011       Lecture in the Faculty of Arts, University of Derby, part of lecture series in collaboration with Quad Arts
2011       London College of Communication, guest tutor on BA Photojournalism
2003       University of the Creative Arts, Farnham (7 years)
               BA Digital, Film and Screen Arts, Part-time practice tutor for "fact-based film and video production"
2002       Martin of Tours, London N1
               Photography workshops for people with forensic histories, mental health problems and offending backgrounds
2000       Gay & Lesbian Arts and Media digital photography and LGBT representation (2 years)

Filmography and screenings::

Atis-Rezistans: the Sculptors of Grand Rue; Leah Gordon 2008
DV 34 mins film essay documenting a collective of slum based Vodou artists in Port au Prince, Haiti and a meditation on the links between sex, death and creativity.

2010       Femmes en Mythologie, Musée du Montparnasse, Paris
2010       Embassy of Haiti, Washington DC, USA
2010       Okra, Upstairs at the Ritzy, Brixton, London
2010       Caribbean Film Corner, Portobello Film Festival, London
2010       Musee de l'Homme, Paris
2009       World Nomads Film Festival, curated by Jonathan Demme, Mayles Documentary Theatre, Harlem
2009       Mercredis, Musee de l'Homme, Paris
2009       Puerto Rico Ethnographic Film Festival (prize winner)
2008       Afro-American Studies Society, Bates College, Maine USA
2008       Caribbean Studies Conference, Edinburgh

Fetos de Elefantes; Leah Gordon 2007
DV loop video installation about link between colonialism, barbarity and the museum focusing on an exhibit of elephant foetus' at Maputo Museum of Natural History, Mozambique.

2007       Museum of Collaboration, Four Corners, London

We're All in the Gutter...; Leah Gordon 2006
DV loop a psycho-geographical installation piece about homophobia in London

2006       Capitales Inconnues, FIAP Paris, Megnyita Budapest & Seoul

The Thames; Leah Gordon 2005
DV 14 mins Poetic film-essay exploring the mythology of rivers and the link between the Thames and the slave trade

2005       Zanzibar International Film Festival
2005       Jacmel International Film Festival, Haiti

Lineaments of the Lwa; Leah Gordon, Ranu Mukherjee, Maggie Roberts 2000
DV 30 Minutes Film Essay exploring the Vodou spirits in Haitian life, art and culture, produced by Orphan drift studios.

2000       'Feels Like Vodou Spirit', October Gallery London
2007       Ritual: Late at the V&A, Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington, London

A Pig's Tale; Leah Gordon, Anne Parisio 1997
Beta, 52mins - documentary linking pigs, Vodou and US economic imperialism
A Parisio Production for Channel 4 TV in association with Arte/ Crowing Rooster Arts Inc./ Dominant 7

1997       Channel 4 TV broadcast as part of Baa Baa Zee season
1997       Arte France broadcast
1998       Free Speech TV, PBS, USA as part of Just Solutions Series commemorating
               50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
1998       Best Documentary - UK Environmental Media Awards
1998       Berlin Black Film Festival - commended
1998       Montreal Film Festival - jury's special mention
1999       Tampere Film Festival

Commercial Photography and Video Commissions::

Gordon has undertaken photographic and video commissions in many countries for UK-based aid agencies including Amnesty International, Christian Aid, Save the Children and Help Age International. Gordon has experience covering post-conflict refugee camps in the Congo and Ethiopia, HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, deforestation in the Amazon and illegal mining in the Philippines, religious persecution in Myanmar, community organisations in the Chilean Andes and the immediate aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.