In 1980, I was granted a fellowship to do oral histories
with Cuban teachers and take photographs in the country’s schools.
Unfortunately, shortly after Ronald Reagan’s January 1981 inauguration as the
40th president of the United States, the Cuban embargo was hardened and United
States foundation travel came to a halt. Although I wanted to make the
ninety-mile trip from Florida to the country many times, oral histories on
white supremacy in the United States and then time with individuals who were
part of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa delayed the trip until
2016. Traveling to Cuba took almost four decades.
I went to Cuba in 2016 with seven other photographers as
part of Peter Turnley’s photo-journalist workshop. Turnley, whose book, “Cuba a
Grace of Spirit,” along with the 1980s and 1990s photographs by David Alan
Harvey and Cuban photographers Alberto Korda, Raul Corrales, Maria Eugenia
Haya, and the emerging Nestor Marti, set the standards for visually portraying
the Cuban people.
The photographs included in this series were taken in Havana
and Vinales. My mentors for this work could not be more different—Bruce Gilden
who taught me in April 2016 and Peter Turnley, who was my teacher in Cuba. I
took Gilden’s workshop because my street photography was always close-up—street
portraits and that is Gilden’s forte. He taught me to hone my craft. To get
even closer, which corroborated my sense that the story is in the eyes. I will
always believe that, but I went with Turnley to Cuba because I wanted my
photographs to tell broader stories—eyes with context. Peter shoots
horizontally, and like Gilden, he made me a better photographer. Thus, most,
but not all, of the Cuban series is horizontal—people in their lives.
While I’ve read a great deal on Fidel and the revolution as
well as on the literacy campaign and education, I make no claim as an expert on
the island. I do know three things.
1.
Life in Cuba is hard for many people. While many
Americans join Cuban exiles in magnifying this fact, there are seldom caveats
that include the United States blockade of the Island or the fall of the Soviet
Union. Cuban people, while they are warm toward United States people, are clear
on the great damage that the embargo created economically for their country.
They are also very honest about the hardships that haunted the 1990s because
Soviet support no longer existed. About a year before I visited Cuba,
Bernardine Dohrn told me about a conversation she had listened to between
revolution leaders about the mistakes that had been made throughout the many
decades since the revolution. Reflecting on my recent conversations with Cuban
photographers and other government workers, I witnessed great honesty as these
people discussed the reality of poverty in the country.
2.
People in Cuba effuse a warmth that I have never
before experienced. There’s a stoop and park culture that facilitates
conversation. As I walked narrow streets in Havana I was invited into
individual’s homes on more than one occasion. Inevitably, this led to
conversation. Because of the country’s historical relationship with South
Africa, my experiences offered an entree on the streets of Havana. But who can
predict? At a boxing gym in the city, the conversation was with a young
pugilist whose hair was styled like that of Cleveland Cavalier basketball
player Iman Shumpert. Our conversation was about how much he loved LeBron
James. With one of the young Cuban photographers that assisted Turnley as well
as a rural, organic chef, the talk centered on the warmth of Emril Legassee and
inaccessibility of Anthony Bordain. Finally, there was more more serious
discussions about Cuba and the United States and the possibilities for young people.
3. If I was a poor person, I would choose to live in Havana
over any city in the United States. There are five reasons why Cuba is
preferable:
a. People are provided shelter by the government. Because of
the economy buildings are tired and some, maybe many, are in bad disrepair. And
it is not as if people don’t ask tourists for money, they do. But there are not
people sleeping on the streets nor are there individuals waiting in line to
enter shelters for beds or meals.
b. Individuals and families have ration cards for food that
doesn’t meet what we middle class Americans would probably deem sufficient. But
people themselves ration, they receive grains, vegetables, and protein and are
able to supplement the government food very cheaply in the local, private,
markets that exist in the country.
c. Cuba provides free, universal health care for its
citizens. Cuban doctors are lauded throughout the World and take pride in
serving their fellow citizens. Again, because of the economic conditions,
facilities and supplies are lacking. Individuals, however, are able to see
excellent medical caregivers.
d. There is free universal education in the country –
toddlers through university – and there is an emphasis on standards in all
schools.
e. There are no guns – individuals can’t bear arms which
means that you don’t worry about stray bullets like people often do in the
United States.
So I walked the streets of Havana and visited
rural Vinales in December 2016. I took
photographs of people in parks, on their
stoops, in their homes, and on the streets. I visited
dance companies and
boxing gyms and schools and had conversations with women and men on
tobacco
farms as I took their pictures. The colors and the people depict a liveliness that
I have
never before experienced as I’ve used my camera. The photographs
presented in this essay
represent that same exuberance.
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