Again the US city of New York opens its doors to contemporary Cuban photography, now through collective exhibition that gathers a select group of domestic artists and will be inaugurated on March 26 at the Robert Mann Gallery. This exhibition entitled The light in the eyes of Cuba, has been possible thanks to bilateral cooperation agreements between the Ministry of Culture and the Library of Cuba with the Lake Forest College, an institution that takes advantage of the upcoming appointment to present a book of the same name as part of the collection of Madeleine P. Plonsker who has acquired works on the island since 2002.
Both the bilingual volume of 350 pages that includes 50 photographers, with introductory texts by Plonsker and Nelson Ramirez de Arellano, director of the Library of Cuba, as the exhibition, focus on collecting a set of snapshots taken between 1992 and 2012, times that our country went through the most difficult of what has been called the “Special Period” phase, hence the bulk of the images are characterized by incorporating, in a subtle way, the circumstances of that time. Among the most prominent names that are included in the book, notorious for its emergence or development at this stage, are Marta María Pérez, Juan Carlos Alom, Cirenaica Moreira, René Peña, Raúl Cañibano and Glenda León.
On the other hand the selection of artists that make up the Show, in order to display a historical and logical balance associating the protagonists of the two approaching decades, committed some of the most popular going through those performed well in the early 2000 until reaching emerging generations in recent years. The exhibition will feature works by photographers like Pedro Abascal, Pavel Acosta, Liudmila & Nelson, Jorge Luis ÁlvarezPupo, Kadir Lopez, Arien Chang, Alejandro González, José JuliánMartí, NéstorMartí, Leysis Quesada, Eduardo Garcia, Adrian Fernandez, ReinaldoEchemendía Michel Pou and Lissette Solórzano, among others. If the pros contained here highlights the achievement of bringing together different creators of the lens with a wide range of proposals, considering the times we have to live, the most important is that they, from the multiple narratives that support, get dialogue among all as a necessary complement to understand the complexities of today’s Cuba. Something momentous is that will coexist alongside executed photographs from more traditional techniques (analogue prints) with those using new technologies (digital media), where the use of black and white and color harmonizes the whole place.
Without having even the joy of browsing the publication or know beforehand all the works to be exhibited, I dare say within themselves the manifestation aspects will be in many documentary, which is understandable when you are displaying a period, -the names of most of those involved assert the fact. However, to make it clear that is not the only marking the creative sensibility of that space and time, also appear others who cultivated the conceptual photography, but equally both trends were linking to the interests who have professed their authors. Then the subjects represented, loaded with metaphors and visual poetry, undoubtedly remain those polled both the cityscape as rural throughout their daily life or individual and group portraits that allow seeing scenes inns or random, giving rise to gender issues , race, religion, immigration and other intrinsic aspects to the Cuban socio-cultural context. Its creators, deep knowledge of the environment in which they operate, captured in each case the right to bequeath a reality that we care at all and continue perpetuating the history of this nation, always conducive to open the roads to the rest of the world.
