„A Song of Haiti“ is a series of 35 b/w photographs about people who are living in Jacmel or in the countryside around this city, on the south coast of the island. They show peasants, children, schoolboys, street workers, public servants, unemployed workmen, musician’s troubadours and artists of the city arts centre, folk dancers and also one Hougan priest of voodoo. Like former photographic series of Riviére they do not attempt to show any social or psychological backgrounds. It is much more the concept to catch an ethic time of each person, in direct relationship with the photographical time. For this approach the hands are playing a specific role. Hands, like the face, show the identity of the individual and representing an important mark of the time and life for everybody. To put both hands near the face was for the photographed people a particularly unexpected experience with itself.

The title for these pictures „A Song of Haiti“ comprises of the hope that these people represent a song about folk, similar to a common melody, which would suggest a common identity too. This series is a tribute to this country, separated between political hardships and social problems whilst maintaining still a marvellous culture.