Mira, Havana.

37 images Created 4 Jul 2014

This bitter-sweet series captures Havana in a state of flux as Cuba began to open to foreign influences and investments. Then the Trump government shut its door and the pandemic added another economic barrier around the island. Nevertheless, this lure of possible economic growth remains unreachable for most of its inhabitants. Some streets receive occasional cosmetic repair but everywhere else, houses often crumble and life remains a daily struggle.

The half-deflated ghosts of Chinese balloons in a pensioner's restaurant encapsulate the sense of exhaustion that prevails everywhere. Seven glasses of water, on offer to the Orishas, provide a veneer of respectability and expectations. Young people train their bodies in the hope of a favorable exile; anywhere but elsewhere in search of the utopian million-dollar note that adorns a watch repair shop. Meanwhile, the stage is being reset; vehement old signs of "Socialism Or Death" are moving to the background, making space for homemade Disney icons with mandatory smiles, bringing out the discrepancy between the tired hopes of the population and a dire state of things.
Havana, Cuba. Shot between 2014 and 2022
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