The one piece of work that really stood out to me during our visit to the Special Collections site was the magazine cover for the January 10th, 1982 Miami Herald. The cover contains a photograph taken by Michael Carlebach that was taken at the Krome Avenue Detention Center, which was the refugee camp for Haitians in South Florida. The reason this cover drew my attention in was the ironic title for Welcome to Camp Krome. Before learning from the experts at the Special Collections division I didn’t know what the image really was about. After learning that it was a refugee camp I was in awe. Another aspect that drew my attention in was the huge Mickey Mouse sticker on the wall that is clearly ironic to the image it’s capturing. The four children shown in the picture are clearly sad but they look strong and angry. The picture captures the emotions of the Haitian refugees at the Krome Avenue Detention Center through using the ironic Mickey Mouse sticker in the back. When relating this to Barthes ideas of the punctum and studium I can clearly see what for me was the punctum. Obviously the studium is that this is a refugee camp for Haitians in South Florida. The punctum or what drew me in and what separated this from all the other pictures from the collection by Michael Carlebach was the Mickey Mouse. It made me think and question everything in the photograph. This piece also relates to the readings we have learned about racism and division of the city by race or ethnicity. This includes Nijam, Sokol, and Kelly.
Zach Waldman
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