SURROUNDED EVERYWHERE BY THE SEA (CUBA)

2016 -17

Surrounded Everywhere by the Sea includes portraits of Cuban farmers who organically work the soil; landscapes of crumbling structures and seemingly abandoned public spaces; unmarked graves (Castro proclaimed that “Whoever attempts to conquer Cuba, will gather the dust of her blood-soaked soil, if he does not perish in fight!).  I made these photographs during the brief period where sanctions had been relaxed between the US and Cuba. President Obama visited - the first sitting president to do so in almost 90 years. Hotels were being constructed at a mad pace, and every room was occupied.  Direct flights from New York were plentiful.  The Rolling Stones gave a free concert in Havana at the Ciudad Deportiva the same week that Obama visited. Optimism and hope, and analogies to Woodstock (albeit a clean and sober one), were inescapable.

Now the US Embassy is essentially empty, and travel restrictions have dampened hopes for future engagements. A mysterious illness sickened the embassy staff – a fact that flirts with cold war intrigue, or science fiction sabotage. While the spirit of Cuba is resilient, the trace of history resonates with transformative upheaval and revolutions, the trauma of blood-stained soil, and an almost constant struggle for survival.  Evidence of hardship is everywhere. Aging brutalist architecture from the Soviet era crumbles in neglect, and once beautiful parks sit overgrown and decrepit.  Boats lay forgotten and land-bound due to government prohibitions (wet foot dry foot), and vestiges of heroism and beauty are seen in the many monuments, stadiums, and athletic tributes. 

In this series I prefer the precarious tipping point of bright light represented in high-end shades of grey.  I wanted the harsh tropical light to be represented with a delicacy that is tenuous in nature, almost brittle. The color concert photographs are deliberately incongruent.  The flash of hope was real, but brief.   

Surrounded Everywhere by the Sea focuses on this unique point in time through several distinct, interrelated frameworks titled, Farmers, Parks, Cemetery, and March 25, 2016.