May 2018 Exhibition

 

“You will find what you need, not what you want or what you are dreaming of.” I was struck by the utilitarian nature of this slogan painted on a store window. In Cuba, the government wage is approximately $20 a month. Anything can become a financial emergency, and everything is for sale from dead flowers to your girlfriend’s shoes.

As a street photographer attracted to people and places “out of the norm,” I was curious to see what made Havana #1 on many photographers’ bucket lists. I knew there was more to shoot than classic cars and crumbling infrastructure; I wanted to capture the human condition, observe colorful street life and people coping with daily challenges. Havana exceeded my expectations, overloaded my senses, and made me want to come back for more.

The title Death Dance refers to both the subject and the medium. Carrion works with dancers from the Cuban National Ballet printing them on vellum paper and back coating with white gold. Youmans investigates architecture and statuary in the Colon Cemetery. She executes each in a retablo-style transfer topped with reclaimed molding.

For more than a half-century, Cubans have lived in a country where many of the comforts that we take for granted are simply unavailable. Cubans accept the rationing of food, electricity and medical services as a part of life. Despite it all, Habañeros take these hardships in stride, living each day with a positive attitude. The Cuban faces in these photographs are weather beaten, in dilapidated surroundings, but strong, patriotic and eternally optimistic.

I happily embraced Old Havana, as every back street I roamed was a gift. The buildings and cars providing the layered imagery, warmth and color I long to capture. From the start of my photographic journey, I have been drawn to the visual and emotional texture of worn facades, peeling wallpaper, layers of paint, and objects that have aged. These places, in their subtle way, reflect so much life and experience.

This work is a photographic narrative of my encounters with inhabitants of Havana. I captured the daily lives of men, women and children, showing them in their building, at their doorstep, or in their apartment. I got a sense of their simple lives, of the harsh conditions the poorest live in. I found moments far from the usual images of Havana.

This work is a documentary series started in 2011 that portrays the trans scene in Cuba. These images seek the identity of the characters, the projection of their individuality in a Cuban society that over the years has manifested against any sexually explicit attitude. During this decade Cuba saw an awakening of a LGBTQ community that directly faced the macho image historically projected.

Children have deeply inspired my work. I look to capture a unique moment of a child’s vulnerability. This work took me to Cuba. As I photographed, I found some children looked me directly in the eye with a smile or a look of curiosity. Others looked to me like they knew they were caught doing something they shouldn’t. Some ignored me (and my camera)…and then there were those who didn’t see me at all.