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Che Plays Chess, Mantanzas, 1993
Six years. Twelve month-long trips. 25,000 images.
The genesis of this project began with my first trip to Cuba in 1990. Having grown up in the Virgin Islands I was searching for a place to photograph that had escaped homogenization and commercialization. Inaccessible, enigmatic Cuba shown like a beacon of unadulterated light, and after one trip I knew I had found what I was looking for.
In 1989, Cuba began its downward financial spiral as economic ties with the Soviet Union frayed. While politics had never been the impetus of my interests, it was impossible to separate Cuba’s current state of affairs from its daily life unfolding around me. It became very clear very quickly that this complex and intriguing country could not be understood in a single visit. What started as one trip turned into a series of month-long journeys taken over the course of six years.
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Girl with Dog, Caibarien, 1992
Immersing myself in Cuba’s history, literature, and politics, I explored the island, developing relationships, and witnessing extraordinary change that was stimulating and enlightening, as well as disheartening and disturbing. Against often melancholy backdrops, the subtleties and layered complexities of day-to-day Cuba were arresting and compelling. With urgency, I photographed everything; interiors of homes and businesses, city streets, rural landscapes, signs and billboards, and, poignantly the people, creating a considered body of work born from complete engagement and informed perspective.
One hundred of the 25,000 images, with a selection of writings by some of Cuba’s most important writers, comprised Cuba: The Elusive Island, my my 1996 book, now currently out of print, published by Harry N. Abrams. The Museum of Modern Art acquired several images in the book, and the work was exhibited in Havana and New York City. Until recently the images were in storage. Two years ago, I began to create digital files to preserve the original 6 x 9 negatives. Re-editing the images through a prism of time and historical change, I found myself transfixed by the many previously overlooked images that comprise the approximately 500 images in The Cuba Archive.
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Gun Pen, Las Tunas, 1993
Now, twenty-six years since my first visit, foreign investment, development, and political changes have progressively altered the landscape I knew so intimately. Politics are forever intrinsically intertwined, and recent profound and historical changes will continue to make their mark on Cuba at an accelerated pace.
Damiani Editore, a noted fine art press in Bologna, Italy, would like to publish The Cuba Archive, a book of 120 of these images in fall 2017. Together, with your support, and with my considerable personal investment, I’d like to actualize this 1,500-copy limited edition of The Cuba Archive.
Photographs from The Cuba Archive will be prominently featured in a 2017/2018 exhibition on Cuba at the Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, California, part of the Getty Museum’s Pacific Standard Time upcoming program.
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Havana Libre Hotel Lobby, 1993
Content:
The Cuba Archive is a considered portrait of this place and its people. The comprehensive archive project documents and preserves an intimate perspective of 1990s Cuba.
The book features 120 photographs with an essay by Silvana Paternostro, noted Colombian-born journalist and senior fellow at the World Policy Institute. The book is designed by award-winning designer Yolanda Cuomo, whose work on numerous books includes retrospectives of such legendary photographers as Richard Avedon, Robert Capa, and Diane Arbus.
The Cuba Archive ships September 2017.
Specs:
- 176 pages long, featuring 120 photos, essays, and captions
- Offset printed and bound in Bologna, Italy by Damiani Editore
- Hardcover, Smyth sewn
- Printed 4 colors + varnish on the images on coated matte paper 170 gr.;
- The cover and spine will be debossed with the title.
- Book size is 29.3 x 21 cm, landscape format
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Shark Speakers, La Playa, 1992
My Story:
I first picked up a camera at age eight, while growing up in the Virgin Islands. A New York City photographer for more than 25 years, I have pursued both commercial shooting and personal long-term projects ranging from Cuba to projects on New York’s Lower East Side, the Philippines, my family and our ancestral Rhode Island home, and my own Sag Harbor back yard
In spring 2012 Damiani published Sand Sea Sky: The Beaches of Sagaponack. The 63 images selected from a 10,000-image looks at my decade-long meditation on nature’s transient fragility and radiance. Carl Safina, Blue Ocean Institute president, scientist, and award-winning author contributed an essay.
My work has been published in Aperture, Harpers, Geo, Travel & Leisure, Smithsonian, and Vogue, among many other publications, and exhibited in New York City, Athens, Greece, Washington, DC, Chicago, Illinois, and Havana, Cuba. My photographs are included in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The Brooklyn Museum, The Parrish Art Museum, The Jewish Museum, and The NY Public Library.
Time frame:
· April 1 2017 – May 15 2017 – Indiegogo Campaign
. May 31 2017 - Book design deadline
· June 2017 – Production and quality check
. June 2107-Printing-Bologna, Italy
· September 2017 – Shipping
Where’s the Money Go? I am asking for support for 75% of the total cost ($48,000.):
- book printing and production (28,000)
- book design, writing, copy editing, and editing (12,000)
- shipping cost (2000)
- file preparation, conversions, and match prints (6000)
A heartfelt THANK YOU in advance for your support and participation in the preservation of this important historic archive.
P.S. Please make sure to select your perk; don't just hit the pink "back it" button unless you only want to donate toward the project. Thank you!