THE SPIRIT OF CUBA: 50 YEARS OF PHOTOGRAPHY ERNESTO FERNÁNDEZ
AND JAMES SPARSHATT
The Exhibition runs from Saturday, 20 June – 11 July
Blue Leaf Gallery
10 Marino Mart, Fairview,
Dublin 3
+353 01 833 3456
info@blueleafgallery.com
Hours: 12-4pm Saturdays;
10am-5pm Mon to Fri
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Blue Leaf Gallery is proud to present
'The Spirit of Cuba: 50 Years of Photography' by James Sparshatt and Ernesto Fernández.
Comprised of more than 40 black and white photographs, the exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution featuring the work of Cuban photographer Ernesto Fernández taken during the revolutionary period and contemporary Cuba by London-based photographer James Sparshatt.
H. E. the Cuban Ambassador Noel Carrillo addressed the exhibition at the preview reception held Thursday 18th June.
The exhibition continues at the Blue Leaf Gallery, 10 Marino Mart, Fairview, Dublin 3 until 11 July 2009. A small selection of works can be viewed on the gallery website: www.blueleafgallery.com
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Few observers would deny that Cubans have an attitude to life and unquenchable spirit that sets them apart from much of the rest of the world. But what drives their passion and love of life, their Cubanism? The argument of nature versus nurture seems particularly pertinent to a nation that has lived through such a tumultuous century.
Is today’s Cuban forged by historical and political events or largely independent of them? Does a nation create its citizenry or is it fundamentally defined by them?
No exhibition could hope to answer these questions but these images, taken by two photographers whose lives stretch across periods of seismic change, at least allow a window on a world that is much changed but also remarkably the same.
Ernesto Fernández was swept up in the Revolution in 1959 and became one of the key documentarist photographers of the so-called ‘epic’ era. He witnessed the heady days of Fidel Castro arriving in Havana and became entranced by the imagery it produced. He was present at the Bay of Pigs and other conflicts, like Angola, which were to have a defining effect on world history.
From the 1950s to the 1970s he worked for Cuba’s leading newspaper at a time when photography was seen as the arbiter of truth and the capture of the defining moment was the driving inspiration.
James Sparshatt arrived as a curious visitor to the island in the 1990s. Tourism was seen as key to solving the island’s desperate need for hard currency, and yet it brought with it social tensions not seen since the 1950s. The joy and spirit he found despite this has taken him back to the island fourteen times. Unlike Ernesto, James has an outsider’s view, a vision of the face Cuba turns to the world. It is a face full of expression, full of experience, resolute and ready for whatever the future has to bring.
There is a story that in the early days of the Revolution Fidel Castro stopped a young volunteer and asked whether it was true that he had been a photographer before joining the rebels in the Sierra Maestra Mountains. When the young man nodded, Castro told him to put down his gun and get his camera, as that was the weapon that would win them the real battles ahead.
Certainly the iconic images of revolutionaries in their jungle camps did much to help romanticize their cause. Photography played a central role in the 20th century development of this enigmatic island. These contrasting images provide an insight into Cuba and its political history - an insight that often evades the hundreds of thousands of visitors that go to the island every year to enjoy the cigars and mojitos while watching a setting Caribbean sun.
Ernesto Fernández:
Ernesto Fernández trained under the tutelage of several established photographers during the 1950s in Havana. He is one of the four great photographers of the Revolutionary period of Cuba. Alongside Korda, Salas and Corrales, Fernández documented the heady days of the Triumph of the Revolution and continued to photograph Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and other leading lights of the new system, including some wonderfully intimate studies of Alicia Alonso, Cuba’s greatest ballerina.
After Fidel Castro’s regime was installed in 1959 he worked for the newspaper Revolución and during his time as a journalist covered conflicts including the Bay of Pigs invasion and wars in Angola and Nicaragua. He was also a founding member of Cuba’s Union of Artists and Writers in 1961 (UNEAC). Ernesto Fernández continues to photograph Cuba and to teach a new generation of artists.
James Sparshatt:
James Sparshatt began his photographic career in the mid-1990s as a photojournalist in La Paz, Bolivia. His photographic projects have taken him across the globe to numerous destinations which have included the Latin world. His work has a vibrancy which captures the spirit of his subjects, perfectly suited to an environment where music, passion and personal expression are such key elements in life.
James focuses on capturing the raw passion and energy in music and dance from the Latin world including the flamenco of Spain, the tango from Argentina and the salsa from the streets of Havana. His colour images are full of movement and life, his black and white of emotion. His work has been exhibited in New York, Texas, London, Spain, Cuba and across the UK.
His 2006 exhibition at the Royal National Theatre was described in the Sunday Telegraph as “a dazzling collection of black and white images….” James was a winner of the 2008 International Exhibition at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Colorado, USA and was shortlisted for the 2009 Sony World Photographic Awards.
James Sparshatt’s photographs of Cuba capture the passion and vitality of the island and its people. A book of his photographs, ‘Cuba Land of Spirit’, was published in 2006.
The exhibition continues until 11th July
www.blueleafgallery.com
10 Marino Mart, Fairview
Dublin 3
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James Sparchatt - Havana Cafe, Havana Cuba 2000.
Calle O Bispo runs through the heart of old Havana.
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Ernesto Fernández -
Revolutionairies, Havana 1959
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Ernesto Fernández -
Fidel Castro cutting Sugar Cane
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