Artista Invitado / Bienal de La Habana / 2024
Invited Artist / Havana Biennial / 2024
Ten years ago, in 2014, Katrin Eismann, my Department Chair at SVA, and I traveled to Havana invited by La Fototeca de Cuba to present Artist Talks during the Mes de la Fotografía (Month of Photography).
This first encounter with the legendary city and its people profoundly impacted me, and in the following years, I returned to the island several times more.
On these trips, I always had to balance my artistic concerns with the responsibilities of being an educator traveling with students. For the most part, the Cuban photographs I have taken to date are illuminated by the first rays of dawn - or are deeply nocturnal. In both cases, they are the result of the time I managed to carve out for myself before or after my professional obligations took over. Stolen pictures, if you will.
It has always been a dream of mine to return to the island to pursue a personal project. I am so grateful and thrilled to travel to Cuba commissioned by the Bienal de La Habana to create such a project.
This November, I will be an Artist in Residence at Punto Naranja, Quisicuaba. And of course, I don’t go there only on my own behalf but representing my native country of Guatemala as well.