Revista Negra #14 (ENG)

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Becoming animal...184DOSSIER

Mabel Poblet

Havana’s Creative Photography School Magazine Bimonthly Edition

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DOSSIERsumary PHOTO-MANIA DEVELOPINGFotoFAC THE CLOTHESLINE STORY

Hoy mi voz no tiene sonido, 2009 [Mabel Poblet] DOSSIER4 Fishing in plastic and cashmere whirlpools: an acrostic for Mabel Poblet

[Jamila M. Ríos]

FotoFAC20 Becoming animal [Astrid Orive García]

PHOTO-MANIA24 Parallel Visions [Daniel G. Alfonso]

26 Seductive scenarios [Yenny Hernández Valdés]

27 Stardust [Claudio Sotolongo]

28 Photographic Genesis [Antonio Enrique González Rojas]

DEVELOPING32 A personal photograph: diving through the soul of Daniel Gerardo Perez

[Yailuma Vázquez]

42 THE CLOTHESLINE

58 STORY Those black eyes [Yailuma Vázquez]

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ANTERIOR SIGUIENTE

[email protected]

[email protected]

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Bimonthly Edition

SUMMARYOn the Cover

DIRECTORTomás R. Inda Barrera

EDITION Y CORRECTIONYalemi Barceló

ART & DESIGN DIRECTORAilen Maleta San Juan

TRANSLATIONDavid Friedman

COORDINATORDorcas Rodríguez

EDITORIAL BOARDMárgel SánchezHaydee Oliva ValleEnrique RottenbergCristina Díaz Erofeeva

All rights reserved

Each author is responsible for his opinions

21st Street e/ Paseo y ATel.: + 537 832 6592

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Fishing in plastic and cashmere whirlpools: an acrostic for Mabel Poblet [JAMILA M. RÍOS]

de la serie Memorias… y Recuerdos pasados, 2013

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(1) Cfr. La entrevista de Mabel Poblet con Roberto Chile (2010, diciembre 7): “La luz de los espejos”. Cubadebate: <http://www.cubabebate.cu/autor/roberto-chile-autores/>, [2015, septiembre].

(2) Mabel Poblet: Simplemente bellas, exposición en la Galería Raquel Ponce, Madrid, 1 de febrero a 1 de marzo de 2013. Havana Cultura: <http://havana-cultura.com/en/visual-arts/simplemente-bellas-mabel-poblet#>, [2015, sep-tiembre].

Despertar a la vida, 2008

P for pedaling (which is sometimes kicking at the bottom of a blue blue pool). P for parpa-deando/blinking (for the piercing flash of a

fleeting wink). That’s how Mabel Poblet Pujol arri-ves, from a fishing town (Cienfuegos, 1986). Her art (three-dimensional kinetic and electrifying) has the vigor and ferocity, while subtle, of these two move-ments (the strength deployed by our two hands to open a shellfish and the wobbly smoothness of its meat offered to our tongue: a pearly shimmer).

Personal exhibits galore, in which she interwove with good tempo autobiographical issues and which then have bloomed, like a drafty wheel, forward and backwards –as she herself says– “everyday, intimate and private things” of others, in works that make a pact –ac-cording to how you see them- with art or kitsch of kitsch1 : from the convicts of a crafts workshop Sim-plemente bellas, in Holguin2, to certain Retratos ob-jetuales (2013), and also even just passing through her simply iconic prophecies like her Ché Guevara [2010] (which is or was Korda’s, Fitzpatrick’s, or whoever’s...). Obeying the rhythm, I savor the titles. Reverso; Desapariencia; Situación límite (2013). Re-unificación familiar; Hoy mi voz tiene sonido (2012). De tus ojos la sal (2011). Inventario (2010). Un sueño real (2009). Mirando adentro (2008). Ábacos (2007). Lugar de origen (2006)... And the taste of the artist tension remains (absorbed), passing with her (record) needle along micro-histories, although pointing with her index (with her fingertip in the mouth of the cra-ter) the other’s moles. Wading in the strings of her-self, she makes its arpeggios vibrate (cerebral, drea-mlike, playful, emotional, generic, geographical). She goes up and down, she dives (Chivichana de Yagua/synchronized swimming), like a person who inscribes

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(4) Ídem.

(5) Andrés Isaac Santana (2013): “Ella escribe, en un nuevo tiempo” [catálogo Desapariencia], exposición del 22 de octubre al 23 de noviembre en la Gale-ría Enlace Arte Contemporáneo, Lima, Perú. Para los fragmentos citados, cfr. Enlace-arte contemporáneo (2013, octubre): “Desapariencia”. <http://www.enlaceart.com/>, [2015, septiembre] y Cubartegalería (2014, mayo): “Des-apariencia-artista cubana Mabel Poblet”. <https://cubartegaleria.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/desapariencia-artista-cubana-mabel-poblet/>, [2015, sep-tiembre].

Art Factory, with her huge wig; or hidden behind the cabinet, to sew her trousseau?, in the catalog of the collective exhibition Estrictamente personal/Strictly Personal (2014); if she doesn’t appear wrapped in a scarlet shawl (which I believe is silky cashmere, very red goat hair), or she wraps herself up in in her nightcap Desapariencia[s] (2013), with her makeup all run (false eyelashes, lips , nails painted in ruby). As a gymnast, clown, housewife and vedette she takes advantage, with great success, of a handful of resources that sometimes become leitmotiv; and the screen-printed flowers, seductive decorations of the stockings (balls, stripes, hearts), the Triplet legs, the wig, the lipstick, the strong shade of red on white...

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Simplemente Bellas, 2012

photography during the artist’s career, due to its effec-tiveness “for serial reproduction” and “to manufacture the work” on clear acetate.6

Thoroughness for detail, a profuse mental fra-mework (or its reflection through collages, let-

ters, drawers and dressing tables, in corner tables crowded with ornaments) and the panache with which certain men and women look in the mirror, placing the finishing touches, counterpoint in the sneer of the author. We see her work out in the bathroom or under water: Derailed over the rails of her stockings in the

cable-car) to see a work that demands to be scrutini-zed rather during k/synesthetic excursions, involving touch and other alert senses.

Photography is, in fact, one of the cardinal techniques of her pieces (placing the lens on herself, with that elegant exhibitionism which sisters her with Cyrenaica Moreira). Selected –as she has told Roberto Chile– partly because she makes it possible to redo “events that serve as a reminder of images of missing relati-ves, vague [...] due to the passing of time”,4 the tech-nique royally embodies (fitting like a glove) her interest in the individual, through “the sum of specific appro-ximations to personal history of the subject that she is reconstructing [...] the fragments scattered” including their own experiences (those that glisten attached with pins to our memory, and that we learn of from hand to mouth, or stored zealously in chests or shoe boxes, in order to allow us review them, together “like a schizo-phrenic puzzle”).5 Conforming to the tide-Mabel Po-blet, the photos let themselves be digitally intervened and be combined with multiple overlapping materials (syringes, bicycle wheels, flowers and plastic pyra-mids, sequins, vinyl records, leds). Tempting our pla-yful predilection for selfishs in virtual spaces like insta-gram or blogspot, intimacy becomes not only a public image, but mockery of her cloister habits, her silence amplified and resized (many times over and expanded) through silkscreen. This printmaking technique prefe-rred by the prince of Pop Art (which has since come to invade and symbolize modern life, with relief drawings similar to the teeth of a saw, and so malleable it will accept any media), has been combined regularly with

a diary and then (stripping it of burdens) throws it up, puffing... to admire it on the surface.

Joyful, breathless, wild sow, Mabel Poblet graduated (dandelion girl with bangs) from the San Alejandro National Fine Arts Academy (2007), Tania Bruguera’s Conduct Art Workshop (2008), the Superior Institute of Art (2012). She still has many shocked by the many how superbly her pieces roam, tracing constellations (with three pairs of leg, tied with red boots) between Europe and America: Madrid, Lima, Havana, Portu-gal, New York (what could be said is a glide without missteps on a shining rail, stardom among events on the island and overseas), while she joins private and institutional collections, from Miami (CIFO-Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation) to Paris (Brownstone Foun-dation).

Orchestrating a review of Mabel Poblet’s corpus (tem-porary re-games; light boxes in which “illusion” and “reality”3 are trapped, confused; epic proportions, ready-made; intents of underwater immersion; photo frames which are showcases and are porthole; tacti-le textures; motorized and flirtatious mobility; intense, persistent variations of red, white, black and gaudy blue) deserves a less flat language than letters (mo-nochromatic, calm), written with discipline in Word, for a photography magazine. The minimum would be to make offerings (to faithlessly emulate it) with Mail Art exercises and calligrams, whisper their titles in a hap-pening, accompany it with a concert emanating from some supposedly inaudible jubilations: the shuffle of (yellowish, sticky) pages of an album; the buzz of film reels, swirling as they go through clamped fingers; the rustle of a thousand plastic flowers (nailed with the hands of an entomologist) in steel stems, or of others cut a long time ago with tin snips, by the mother of Andy Warhol himself. The (irrefutable) disparity of art and word reemerges then; and, to my regret, I spe-culate just an acrostic (as they say a short ride on

(3) Mabel Poblet, apud Roberto Chile: “La luz de los espejos”. (6) Mabel Poblet, apud Roberto Chile: “La luz de los espejos”.

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Desapariencia, 2013

Descarrilada, 2014

Trillizas, 2014

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With the mouth that provokes open, Cual si todo na-ciera…/As if all were born… from there (reiterating herself in the center of an object portrait or in a crown overflowing with roses: an expert’s arrangement), her authority contrasts with the eloquent gesture of silen-ce: index finger sealing her lips, in Hoy mi voz no tiene sonido/Today my voice has no sound (2009) and the sweet appeal of Despertar a la vida/Waking to Life (2008). Withdrawing through/in the labyrinths of in/communication which is a significant leitmotiv, around which Mabel Poblet’s compositions are formed. Thus, between Memorias… and Recuerdos pasados (2013) through the centrifuge of her lips (repeated diptych), they scratched discs of other powers start crumbling (scarlet letters, purple roses), and at least break for-th with work (who knows, if reaching safe harbor or not), driven by a single whistle, the shout/the echo of a secret. Windy, hydroelectric, the painted mouth from

the pictures spells out, more than luminous horizons, a tongue-full of printed flowers, a school of fish, a stampede of rivers... The conviction that these works float in the trade winds of the word (from its calmness to its vortexes) is stated when fish dive back and forth in the outer ear, and when the range of blues (like the colorful stream of words and outbursts) goes from one mouth to another mouth. The language’s in-out, the go-between (and its misunderstandings) rumbles double/triple in the artist, who makes their faces (their portraits) converge on one surface, while embodying a scream, indifference, bewilderment... and inquires about their mood swings, while outlining our inflexible (thoughtless) attitudes, if it comes to parley. Almost customary searches, the Mabel Poblet’s re-visitations of her own image (rather than autistic, nar-cissistic, solipsistic tics) show how she swings (like a magnetic compass needle) between strangeness

and auto(re)cognition: absorbed (camera in hand and fragments flying ) to capture the always fleeing states of “the foundation of identity” (as a work in progress). The solitude of who confesses with open eyes: Aún te veo/I still see you (2009) perhaps struggles with “the reconciliation of the self with its “image projec-ted in the mirror” – as critic Andrew Isaac says–. If in her pieces she focuses (apparently alone) on herself, nevertheless the importance that “she gives to the viewer”, during the period of the observation in which he cross-dresses as part of a co-creative act of ex-panded participation”7 stands out in contrast. In fact, Mabel Poblet often forces (probably more than others, whose work is more “finished”) to gather the eviden-ce that she scatters, hunting for the interlocutor’s experiences and of every act of reception that she

(7) Andrés Isaac Santana: “Ella escribe, en un nuevo tiempo”.

de la serie Memorias… y Recuerdos pasados, 2013

re-inaugurates with him, for example, works such as Retratos Objetuales (paradigmatic for those who have confessed their passion for “the aesthetic objectivity” given the “freedom” she grants to “delve in the paths of understanding and showing the different interpre-tations an event” and who, therefore, has outlined in this series still unfilled images, through sets of be-longings through which the observer must infer the personality, the habits, the living context of the person on who he’s spying, without lacking the reminiscing fervor with which the relics of a museum or the room of any acquaintance or stranger are examined, be-yond the painting itself). Links between traumatic and pleasant, ancient and con-temporary, art and artificial. Unholy alliances among the anguish of the evan/essence of the photos and the jovial

(8) Mabel Poblet, apud Roberto Chile: “La luz de los espejos”.

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plasticity of screen printing. With poses parodying lolicon’s postures and winks to other female stereotypes, Mabel Poblet acts and overreacts with the ease of a camp icon and she self-de-dramatizes herself by creating her works. Her pieces exude (due to their materialness, their shape and color, and their scale) the “ergonomic” beauty of some interior decorations (who knows if also spiritual); which, combined with incidental variations of lighting, from which she considers that a certain “mysticism” emanates , it is propitious for confession, since she re-creates what they call a cozy atmosphere which exists in certain living rooms or lobbies of comfortable hotels, even though certainly not in the office of the psychoanalyst. Placed in this spot, the author re-creates her catharsis before us (openly inviting), and watching her we embark with her on an adventure of introspection, like someone who enters an exorcizing bath (a spiritual cleansing). The installation Nuestro jardín/Our Garden (2013), with its three transparent capsules, each planted with artificial flowers (red, white and blue), and could be read as an ode to kitsch, and as environmental insult/apology, or as a me-taphor or reminder of the Cuba that was exalted by trave-lers, and ascended from Queen of the Antilles to the Pro-mised Land, from summer Island of Eden to Garden of the West. This piece takes us back to an illustrated version of the Socratic “Know thyself”, to Voltaire and his Candide…, which perhaps with less pragmatism, encourages begin-ning at home. The philosopher said: “Il faut cultiver notre jardin”, or what is the same, “we must learn to fish and fish well.” Touching the roof of her mouth, leaning over the pit of her stomach, Mabel Poblet reviews this lesson. When she shakes her hair while coming out of the pool (photographed by Roberto Chile) a downpour of fish avalanches.

[Jamila M. Ríos] Holguín, 1981. Philologist and editor. Her most recent publications include the anthology Traffic Jam (Atarraya Cartonera, San Juan) and “Hachas de San Juan (Practical Guide for educating girls’ character),” which won the creation Scholarship of the La Gaceta de Cuba magazine.

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(9) Ídem.

Para el uso de este efecto, contrástense obras como Siempre estás presente (2007), Pirámides de cristal sobre caja de luz (2008), Nuestro jardín (2013) y la serie Retratos objetuales.

Nuestro jardín / Our Garden, 2013

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morphic object appears in the middle of a transformation process mediated by the military. From the perspective of the identity(s) and difference(s), this piece opens its se-mantic range to multiple readings, each derived from the experiences of those who contemplate it. The enclosure, suppression and concealment seem to be dominating this self-object, which it hints from its cocoon, but whose mu-tation is still a mystery and a promise.

For Adrián Fernández metamorphosis is more Kafkaesque than morphogenetic. In the series Requiem in process, the image is constructed from small photographic mosaics that enlarge the representation printed on a postage stamp. Ca-bles, tubes and straps hold on to the human body in order to transform it into a thing, which is totally dependent of these additions in order to live. The snail, with its infinite spiral, emphasizes the idea of transformation and cycle.

Camouflage or conversion? Enrique Rottenberg’s The Wall, two human figures are barely distinguished under the or-ganic matter that covers the wall. The evolution of these entities, natural and imperceptible, is left to the viewer’s

¿The philosophy of art, or the art of philosophy? The new exhibition opening at the FotoFac gallery comes as a cha-llenge to the viewer’s thinking. The title of the exhibition, Becoming animal, becoming intense, becoming imper-ceptible, paraphrases a chapter of A Thousand Plateaus (1980), the second part of the theoretical work in two volumes Capitalism and Schizophrenia, written by French authors Gilles Deleuze (1925- 1995) and Felix Guattari (1930-1992). The exhibition takes as its main curatorial axis the idea of these thinkers that identity is the result of differences, reversing the traditional relationship between the two. No two things are equal, but the categories used to identify individuals emanate from their differences as well. Deleuze and Guattari in their works state that experience influences and changes our concepts enriching them with new ideas, and in fact surpasses them. Experiencing this difference transforms our existing categories, and forces us to invent new ways of thinking. On this occasion, new ways of thinking about the work both of well-known artists, as well as novel figures on the national visual arts scene.

Throughout October and November pieces by creators of the stature of Esterio Segura, Enrique Rottenberg, René Peña, Nelson Ramírez, Jose Angel Toirac, Adrián Fernán-dez, Mabel Poblet, Adonis Flores, along with other younger ones such as Ronald Vill, Yomer Montejo... may be seen. The exhibition consists of photographic works and insta-llations, which in tone with the curatorial proposal reflect multiple identities which are developing and transforming. Man-animal-object, individuals inserted in a process that is not unidirectional, but juxtaposed, cross-linked, intertwi-ned, and polysemous. How is this becoming? Animal and wild, free, intense and subtle all at once. It is not the man becoming an animal, but in having a spontaneous trans-formation, driven by social, political and life factors.

Crisálida/Cocoon, by Adonis Flores is a piece in a meanin-gful dialogue with the theme of the show. The anthropo-

Becoming animal...[Astrid Orive García]

Crisálida/Cocoon [Adonis Flores]

La pared / The wall [Enrique Rottenberg]

imagination. The large format of the piece, which brings creatures to real size, and the realism of the texture of the photography, invites us to touch the piece, lean on this fluffy wall and merge with it, in it...

On the other hand, also by Rottenberg, Help is a call for help from a naked and exposed human body, without dis-guise or metamorphosis, even though enclosed in a glass box. Is it a condemnation of human trade, a pro-feminist discourse or does it have other more hidden connotations? As usual for this artist, the interpretation is left free to the subjectivity of its audience.

Also exhibited in a glass box is Ubre Blanca (White Udder), surrounded by a halo of mysticism and fame built around the political discourse. For Alejandro Gonzalez, this work

also consists in exhibiting documents and speeches in which the animal was apologetized, becoming a paradigm and now a work of art. The critical and satirical tone cannot be avoided while facing such a piece.

In the series Zoo logo, which consists of photographs taken in the Havana Zoo by Eduardo Ordonez, becoming animal comes through the dialogue established among several pieces. Inside or outside the cage? On which side is the animal? Perhaps what happens is that communi-cation is not established by the differences but rather by identification.

A cockroach is the protagonist in the work of the young ar-tist Yusnier Mentado. The insect, with an electronic device which is a sensor implanted in his carapace, is available

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to the public attending the exhibition. Viewers can use an application installed on an Android phone to manipulate the movement of the cockroach by electrical impulses that make it believe there are unreal obstacles and change its course accordingly. After a certain time the animal percei-ves the deception, and no longer obeys the device’s stimuli. Observing the cockroach’s discovery and the subsequent transformation of its behavior is an enjoyable process both from scientific and artistic point of view.

We then invite you to the exhibition to feel the provocation of thinking of our own becoming-animal, becoming-inten-se and becoming-imperceptible.

[Astrid Orive García] La Habana, 1986. Licenciada en Historia del Arte.

1972-1985 [Alejandro González]

Zoo logo [Eduardo Nuñez Ordoqui]

Evolución de la resistencia / Evolution of resistance [Yusnier Mentado]

Help [Enrique Rottenberg]

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Parallel Visions[Daniel G. Alfonso]

Once again, within the Cuban Art Factory, specifically on the Black Wall, a photo-graphy exhibit surprises me again. On this occasion, following their main objec-tive of promoting young artists who expe-

riment and explore the photographic universe, we found the two-person exhibition of Carlos and Cesar Vila; two brothers, twins, who through the camera externalize their latest aesthetic, formal and con-ceptual concerns. Both have very different paths in the Cuban visual panorama, however, a new lexicon

has united them: to explore the expressive possibi-lities of geometric abstraction as a language that appeals, entices and mesmerizes.The exhibit, I must confess, exceeded my expectations. The ten pieces that form the exhibit entitled C.C. ConVerGen, impose themselves on the viewer’s retina as clean volumes framed in what may be the limits of pure creation (primary feature of abstract art) and which in turn individualizes its creators. Each one submitted five photos, with a deman-ding, well planned and extremely careful curatorship, they were shown to the public in the form of diptych; i.e., each

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author clicked and caught a specific fragment of reality, the curator (Dania Lopez Padron) made each photo converge together based on a detailed analysis of the photographic image. This is what the text of the catalog says when it states that “rhythm and movement are emphasized in the-se decontextualized and projected macros, looking at the range of black & white values and of a counterparty resol-ved using color filters that engrave the difference as auras that break the likely monotony of the series, highlighting the individuality of each piece.” Each pictured element is a sample of objects which we can figure out, only that we have to spend at least a few minutes (which I suggest to our readers) so that the eyes can decode what is in each image. Estallido, a diptych solved using straight lines, with vanishing points and multiple perspectives, reminiscent of works by Jose Manuel Acosta, abstract photography pio-neer in our country, especially in those where the author uses geometric figures which multiply into infinity. As part of that same line of work is Esquematismo, in which des-pite having a hieratic character, the skill with which the composition is determined to enhance rhythm and repe-tition as an aesthetic category of abstraction can be ap-preciated. Some time ago, I wrote about the work of Cesar Vila, a text that allows me to draw analogies between the two creators; I wrote about his discursive strategy which was linked to the dynamic use of symbols and signs which approached the precepts of surrealism, which sometimes knock on the door of ambiguity. His scenes, such as Tras-cendente & Puntos de Vistas, challenge the viewer’s men-tal states and try to unbalance our sharpest perceptions.

Without being aware, Cesar and Carlos, even though they are novel artists in the world of photography, are already charting their own path and building their own iconogra-phic, aesthetic and conceptual territory. Their widely varied visions (parallel), bring us closer to the great masters of abstract photography, such as Lester Hayes, Heinz Hajek-Halke and some experimental pictures taken by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy during his stay in the twenties in Bauhaus. I’ll repeat it to death, we must follow very closely both

Puntos de vista [Carlos y César Vilá] youngsters, who despite having begun two years ago, have comparable results -and I dare say extraordinary- to those of the most renowned authors of the Cuban photo-graphic universe. Their passion for the art of the lens is unmatched, I am most grateful to them for being part of a generation of young artists who wish to give new mea-nings and renew the national photography. Bonne chance!

[Daniel G. Alfonso]Bachelor of Arts History from the University of Havana. Editor of Artecubano.

PHOTOMANIA PHOTOMANIA

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quiet, yet so distant. We are in the presence of a cons-titutive marriage in which the underwater shots resist being monotonous, tedious, irreverent. Indeed, Daniel has captured the essence of the scene, the environment. The dialectics between reality and fiction, between ima-ge and speech, between approaches and distances, is the main achievement of this exhibit.

[Yenny Hernández Valdés] Havana, 1992.BA in History of Art, Faculty of Arts and Letters of the University of Havana.

Seductive scenarios[Yenny Hernández Valdés]

Eager to build a great metaphor regarding underwater topography Daniel Gerardo Pe-rez (Matanzas, 1961) during the months of August and September invited us to see his first personal exhibition at the gallery of the

ICAIC’s famous Cinematographic Cultural Center, Fresa y Chocolate. A palimpsest of colors, lights, re-flections, textures, details, flora and fauna domina-tes the hall which presents and covers landscapes taken as living, visual, organic, and material evi-dence which complement the work and life of this photographer, who is also a diving and underwater photography instructor.

How do these images talk to us? How do they convey a concept, an idea, an experience, a completely myste-rious and at the same time beautiful universe? How is it possible that the silence that dominates the seabed make us feel excitement, enthusiasm, curiosity?

These questions have a common answer, and without doubt it’s the photographic technique reinforced by a passion which overflows from these pieces. These ima-ges gathered under the title Acercamiento pass from the bold and eager gesture, from the underwater topogra-phical advantage, to the presence of dyes that reveal a dramatic fictional and authentic geography at the same time. All this has been possible due to technical mastery of this art form. The way in which the lights and shadows are handled, to get required the nuances and shades, the necessary colors, the manner in which he makes the viewer want to touch, feel, delve in the seabed, in those striking textures, which are proof of photographic ex-pertise that characterizes the work of Daniel -remember how challenging it is to achieve excellent shots once the scenery and its complements are underwater.

In all his works a certain flirting with ambiguity, with mys-tery is perceived. They are all part of a retinal chemistry that surrounds the viewer and forces him to stop before them, to dialogue with that world which is so sublime, so

La patria [Daniel Gerardo Pérez]

Manecilla de reloj ruso [Alain Cabrera]

Moneda de 1957 [Alain Cabrera]

Stardust[Claudio Sotolongo]

The game that Alain Cabrera creates in his se-ries of intervened photographs Todo lo sólido se desvanece / All that is solid vanishes bet-ween the object presumed forgotten and the present compels us to make a reflection on

the dematerialization of contemporary culture. In a te-chnologically immaterial present, Alain recaptures the recent past, almost historical, given the dazzling advan-ces of technological development with its avalanche of new devices that make us forget their predecessors. Our perception of time and what is recorded as their history shortens exponentially; what is functional in a generation no longer is in the next one.

Alain rescues from oblivion a number of objects he found, but he doesn’t only confront them with the present -the images were created using digital pho-tography- but rather places them in a second order of significance, taking them out of their context in pho-tographs where the individual story is likely to evoke our collective memory. In Vela del primer cumpleaños / First birthday candle the used wick, but the absence of wax on the sides is a sign of how ephemeral the mo-ment of celebration is. The relationship established with the picture is intimate. The absence of context helps us create a personal connection, without being able to avoid feeling an emotion.

The past as a collective construction appears in Mane-cilla de reloj ruso, Moneda de 1957 y Pieza de quinqué (Minute-hand of a Russian watch, 1957 Coin and Part of a kerosene lamp) each with references to different historical moments of Cuba. The image clarity and the absence of context open us to many and diverse rea-dings. The description titles are taxonomic, almost like catalog labels, and do not clarify the reading of the pie-ce, instead they make it more complex. The metaphors are elsewhere, in the feathers that accompany each object, in contrast to the artificial opposition of oppo-nents; within the texts that escort the image and finally in the viewer’s sensitivity.

[Claudio Sotolongo ] Havana, 1982.Designer of the Editorial UH of the Faculty of Arts and Letters and professor at the EFCH.


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ciously or unconsciously, which talks about the durability of this budget of life, which is human faith in the meta-physical. As an unknown and abstract notion, which by necessity and cultural conditioning is either interpreted and translated from music, iconic, literary, dances, or ritual codes, these are all metaphors that lie at the very root of art, which is nothing but a contemporary deriva-tion of the pristine mythos & epos.

The epochal marks –even secular and millennial marks- disappear in these images of strong dyes and very contrasting tones; chromatic warmth becomes the vi-sual expression of the intensity of the recorded prac-

tices. Close-ups or shots featuring a unique individual overwhelmingly prevail. Paroxysmal faces, decorated with ritual signs, bodies taut to the maximum from fren-zy, or nearly frozen in eternal waiting for who waits for nothing and is delivered to a higher will abound.

Cervantes just tries to capture the mass contexts and human groups whose number tends to result in the dis-solution of individualities, all fusing into an anonymous, inhuman mass. He chooses to scrutinize the world of faith through an intimate dialogue with each of his “mo-dels” whose faces are the palpable imprint of the invisi-ble powers.

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Photographic Genesis [Antonio Enrique González Rojas]

Among the various proposals which Gene-sis Art Galleries contributed to the Havana Biennial, photography was represented by samples Presupuesto fe, exhibited by the creator Manuel Cervantes in the Juan Da-

vid Gallery, beside to the Yara movie-theater; and En-tre puertas, by Juan Carlos Romero, exhibited in the small space of the Armadores de Santander Hotel, next to the Avenida del Puerto. Both exhibits mark a representational and discursive spectrum that goes from human beings in full expression of his transcen-dental faith, to their fears and resistances.

1. Por supuesto…fe

The first project with its thirty works takes us closer to records and investigations, but more than to Cuban ce-remonies and religious rituals, -rather to African ones- the essence of the national religion itself; as a state of being where all possible boundaries between life’s rou-tine and mystical routine are diluted. Religiousness as existential meaning and compass, as a philosophy or-ganically assimilated into our daily evolution; ultimately, as an indelible and essential cultural feature.

The images captured by Manuel Cervantes’ lens ema-nate significant timelessness, whether achieved cons-

de la serie Entre puertas [Juan Carlos Romero] de la serie Presupuesto fe [Manuel Cervantes]


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2. Leyendo entre… puertas

Juan Carlos Romero in his pieces manages without the explicit representation of the human figure, and drifts towards their manifestation in the subsequent makings: in this case doors and locks in various versions. Scars, cracks and the remains of multiple layers of paint on the faded doors are like the rings in the trunk of old trees. Padlocks, locks and other strange devices: bastions of individuality and fear of others who are wolves.

After over a decade, Entre puertas establishes an aesthe-tic and conceptual dialogue with Guillermo Bello and his series Hablan las puertas.1 He articulates with a sort of diptych or sequel, or perhaps a remake or a follow-up with this series, since most of the doors captured by Be-llo remain, even more emaciated but still impregnable.

The withered gates resist releasing the chains that sha-ckle them, which hold them together, the same that happens to the people living behind their large gates. Both series from their very titles invite us to look into the worlds that are beyond these doors, crouched in their

wombs and still prohibit intruders either by despair, re-silience or simple stubbornness of the dead crying to stay alive.

Romero doors and locks are thresholds, provocations, options and suggestions for the viewer; mention by de-fault, representation by subtraction, the silent scream. These are transition elements, status changing, whose blockade at any cost, with increasingly grotesque de-vices, also refers to the stagnation and decay of those who try to perpetuate the status quo.

[Antonio Enrique González Rojas] Cienfuegos, 1981.BA in Journalism. Narrator and art critic. His texts have are published in appear in El Caimán Barbudo, Noticias de Arte Cubano, Cine Cubano, among other Cuban and foreign magazines and anthologies.

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(1) Mention in the category of printed work in the 5th Digital Art Salon in 2003.

de la serie Entre puertas [Juan Carlos Romero] de la serie Presupuesto fe [Manuel Cervantes]

PHOTOMANIA

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In a study of photography as an image, the Swedish semiotician Göran Sonesson stated:

For already some time, photography has been the modern way of creating an image; it has been the fastest way of doing it, since it is mechanical; it has also been an easily repeatable manner; and finally, it has been the truthful manner, the only manner in which the image remains faithful to reality, to its purpose and to its cause. On the other hand, photography has acquired the reputation of being without soul, unable to reveal the personal characteristics of the author.1

This silent comparison -of photography with the painting-, leaves the photographer in a bad position, who “acquires the reputation” of not being a true artist, since his “soul” cannot be revealed in his work. Beyond making a statement regarding this issue, it should be noted that access to the reality of digital photography has grown immensely; and it has allowed man to record himself overcoming all limits; this has occurred in two directions, mainly: one up towards the sky, and another, to the depths of the sea. In the latter the work of Daniel Gerardo Perez, a Cuban underwater photographer who in 2013 was awarded the first prize in the macro category in the “14th World Underwater Photography Championship CMAS” held in Cayo Largo del Sur. It was an international event with the following categories: fish, environment, environment with model, macro and close up on a topic. The only Cuban who reached the award podium was Perez.

For Daniel Gerardo Perez, diver by profession, the sea is his first home; in it he shares his life with his wife, his muse and model. In the sea he finds his way of expression, his art, the stroke of his soul; and there he meets with his friends too. His photos, impressive due to their beauty and composition, also speak of his sen-sitivity. Interestingly human presence is no stranger in his snapshots. The divers who appear in his work are interwoven with the environment, part of the landscape and always seem to be diminished by the immensity, in which the true protagonist is the ocean. His photography not only provides a rarely seen panorama, and makes us believe in mythological creatures straight out from Marco Polo’s books, but also, most importantly, he shows a deep respect for the sea and the creatures that inhabit it.

How you decide to dedicate yourself to underwater photography?

When I started diving I always wanted to show people what I saw and I decided to make a case for a little video camera I had, but the batteries didn’t last long and in the end the idea did not materialize. I was also always fascinated with the world of fish and I wanted to prepare a catalog of the most representative species in the Bay of Pigs. To this you must add my intention of portraying people diving. Then I bought my first digital camera in 2007, and those projects were left half-finished when I discovered that underwater photography had many more horizons and required a great technique because of the complexity of the environment. At that time I began to study it seriously and, every day I find greater challenges.

Are you interested in any other type of photography, that is, do you do any photographic work which not underwater?

Not for now, even though I would be interested in doing other things also, like artistic portraits or bird photo-graphy, but always as an alternative for when I can no longer dive.

A personal photograph: diving through the soul of Daniel Gerardo Perez

[Yailuma Vázquez]

(1) Göran Sonesson, «Photography: Between drawing and virtualness», Semiotics Departament, Lund University, Sweden, Theoretical Cultural Center Criteria, p. 12.

DEVELOPING

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Your photos require a lot of equipment. Thanks to this technology it’s possible to overcome human limits, to go further, and more than merely imagining those ocean beings and areas actually getting to know them. Undoubtedly it’s a great responsibility which involves a stance towards nature. How do you deal with the challenge that this activity entails?

You have to have great dedication; underwater photographers have to make the extra time, to take time from our breaks, from our families, in order to devote it to the practice of this discipline. On the other hand, dealing with all this technology is really crazy, the prices and the new inventions, you can imagine.

To take good underwater photos you need specific tools, but technology determines only 40%; the most important part is the other 60%, which goes from the photographer’s hand to what he is able to convey through his creative sensitivity.

Your work can have a strong commercial element. Is this aspect of it important for you?

For any photographer being able to commercialize their work is relevant, that their sacrifice be rewarded. But the most sublime thing for a creator is that his work be enjoyed, that it be known; afterwards if it ge-nerates benefits even better. Photography, much more if it is underwater photography, requires a large investment. The market helps cover theses costs; but it is also a thermometer to measure your work and a challenge to establish new goals, create new works.

The many awards you’ve received, no doubt talk about your quality as a photographer. Do you think that your photographs show a part of you, following Sonesson’s game; do they reflect “your soul”?

The Fotosubs, in this digital era, began in Cuba in 2007 and to date I have achieved 56 awards, I’ve made a bit of history and this is perceived as one matures, but that style that defines each photographer has changed very little, because that’s where your soul is, how you reflect your soul.

What advice would you give to young photographers, or divers, who like underwater photography?

That they study and practice a lot, and not to change their or give up, because at the beginning controlling anything is difficult, perseverance is the only way forward.

[Yailuma Vázquez] Havana, 1982.Bachelor of Arts. Professor and editor of the Editorial UH Faculty of Arts and Letters of the University of Havana.

Daniel Gerardo Pérez Daniel Gerardo Pérez

Underwater photography is not exactly your profession, and despite this you have achieved great results. How would you define it, as a hobby, or is it more than that?

It’s part of my job because it is a specialty that I can teach; for me it is more than a hobby, it’s a personal challenge to make underwater photography look like art.

What studies you carry out in this sense?

There are courses and workshops for divers. I participated in some underwater photography workshops taught by Instructor Carlos Fonseca and photographic technique courses in Matanzas. To this we have to add self-studying and lots of practice.

What special skills are crucial for an underwater photographer?

Although it seems like a contradiction an underwater photographer must be prudent and bold at the same time, be passionate about the environment and be a good diver, among others.

In your photos human presence is essential. What do you mean to express with it?

I like to capture underwater environments in which man takes part, but is not the protagonist; he coexists with the sea, which is shown as the creator of life, as part of our livelihood. To show the marine environment at its best is my goal, in order for people to take care of that great beauty, which is also a great responsibility.

What does the sea mean for you?

The sea means work, hobby, creation, realization, well it’s almost all of my life.

When do you feel that you’ve taken a good photo?

When I like it and I’m almost satisfied.

The photos taken in Santa Lucia are amazing, mainly because of the proximity to sharks, despite being a controlled environment. What can you tell us about this experience?

Regarding the shark photos in Santa Lucia I can tell you that I only liked two pictures, what I most enjoy is the presence of those three-meter-long creatures, which are so close that sometimes they brush against the camera’s flash; actually it’s very difficult to take good pictures in this environment because they don’t stop swimming, the light is very poor and there’s a lot of suspension.

Equally remarkable is the colorful seabed. What is the significance of color in your work?

I want to show the sea as it is, not as it looks, because colors are lost in the depth’s –underwater the per-ception of size, distance, sharpness and color changes- and we only see bluish-colored tones, the photos allow you to capture what the human eye cannot when it is immersed in this environment. I try to reflect that greatness.

DEVELOPING DEVELOPING

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Daniel Gerardo Pérez Daniel Gerardo PérezDEVELOPING DEVELOPING

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Those black eyes

From the daguerreotype she looks at me with her crazy eyes, her hands held together in an innocent gesture posed like a sweet young lady which denies the look in her eyes. Her huge hat and cloak leave very little skin exposed, and I am flustered and choke with the thought that it could be me. Her eyes on mine, without knowing it, she goes to a place from which she will never be able to leave, that’s why in the photo, her crazy eyes are full of hope. They have a theory to defend. Shakespeare didn’t write Hamlet, nor Macbeth, nor Henry III -the king-devil was not so cruel, perhaps he did not murder his nephews in the London Tower to grasp power, his old bones were found on March 26, 2015 under a parking lot in an area of Leicester and it doesn’t seem that he was a hunchback, he may even of been a handsome man, his great-great grandson with his mere carpenter hands built a coffin for them to take him around London, and maybe they would forgive him- that’s why she went to England, because of the doubt, and to escape the scandal that haunted her, of indifference. Her name was not Esther Pryne, but Delia Bacon and she didn’t need a scarlet letter on her chest for everybody to judge her misfortune. She was a conceited poor American, of some age, an unhappy sp-inster that thought like a man and wrote a book to snatch away from the Englishman his literary genius. Shakespeare didn’t write his plays, because he had never traveled, he had only studied in high school and didn’t know anything about medicine, law, economics or history. Sir Francis Bacon had done it, and had taken the secret to his grave. The tragedies, comedies, dramas hid the truth under a secret code; they all said Bacon, Bacon, Bacon, everywhere. What secrets would the bones of Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon hide? Delia was American, she did not believe in curses, not even those written in stone - “Dear friend, by Jesus, refrain from digging up the dust enclosed here, bless you if you respect these stones and be cursed, if you remove my bones.” To discover the impostor, she would have dug up those bones with her bare hands; she would have offered some oil to the Canterville Ghost, to lessen the noise of his chains. Nobody believed her. She was locked up just like a puritan Cassandra, she was deceived and her so called friends forgot about her.

That is why her eyes look at me, from the screen of the laptop, her crazy eyes, and I think about the curse, about the mental asylum, the screeching sound of the chains and about Henry III’s bones, who perhaps did kill his young nephews, and maybe that is why the children appear holding hands in the dark nights in the London Tower, waiting for justice, just like her.

Cervantes didn’t write Don Quixote, I scribble, and her crazy eyes seem to look so much more like mine.

[Yailuma Vázquez] Ver p. 35.

STORY

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DOSSIERsumary PHOTO-MANIAFotoFAC

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Revista Negra #14 (ENG)