Image above: © Alejandro Pérez, El Bohemio, 2014. Courtesy of Robert Mann Gallery.
On the heels of the Obama administration’s momentous policy changes regarding US-Cuba relations, Robert Mann Gallery presents The Light in Cuban Eyes, a group exhibition of contemporary Cuban photography. This will be the first New York exhibition focused on work made during and after Cuba’s “Special Period,” the time of extreme hardship and poverty which followed the withdrawal of Soviet resources in the early 1990s. The exhibition feature works by artists including Pedro Abascal, Pavel Acosta, Juan Carlos Alom, Jorge Luis Álvarez Pupo, Ramsés Batista, Raúl Cañibano, Arien Chang, Donis Dayán, Reinaldo Echemendía Cid, Adrián Fernández, Eduardo García, Alejandro González, Glenda León, Liudmila + Nelson, Kadir López Nieves, José Julián Martí, Néstor Martí, René Peña, Alejandro Pérez, Michel Pou, Leysis Quesada, Alfredo Ramos, and Lissette.
© José Julián Martí, Spray, 2006. Courtesy of Robert Mann Gallery.
© Reinaldo Echemenda Cid, Con-traccion, 2012. Courtesy of Robert Mann Gallery.
The exhibition is inspired by long-time patron of Cuban photography Madeleine P. Plonsker, who has been traveling to Havana since 2002 to discover and support the work of emerging Cuban photographers. Coinciding with the exhibition will be the release of the book The Light in Cuban Eyes, published by Lake Forest College Press and organized by Plonsker. The Light in Cuban Eyes is the first North American publication with support from the Cuban Ministry of Culture and Fototeca de Cuba, Cuba’s repository of photography comparable in function to the Smithsonian Photography Department in Washington, D.C.
© René Peña, Black Shoes, 2007. Courtesy of Robert Mann Gallery.
