Jordan Issell
October 12, 2020
Joyme Cuan
October 12, 2020
Natasha Forcade
(Misnk BY, 1984)
Graduated in Automatic Engineering at the Higher Polytechnic Institute "José Antonio Echeverría", and a Master's Degree in Innovation Management at the Higher Institute of Applied Technologies. Graduated from the School of Creative Photography in Havana in 2015. Since that date, she has dedicated herself fully to photography. Collaborator of the heritage magazine Memorias de la Ciudad de Cárdenas and the Negra magazine of the School of Creative Photography of Havana (EFCH). She has worked for the American travel agency Cultural Cuba and Portuguese embassy in Cuba, the German Liebherr Company and the Artempocuba cultural organization based in the United States. Her work has been exhibited in group exhibitions in Mexico, Italy and Cuba. She was the winner of the second prize in the International Photography Contest "Guevara, Millón de rostros" 2018 and first prize in the contest "Tina entre nosotros", Tina Modotti Library 2016. She is the creator and co-owner of the Lamfor photography agency, Havana Photography Service.
“Debtor of the essential in the human being and her emotions”
(Natasha Forcade)
HabanaSoy
Arise from the constant endeavor to understand the “Cubano” as a human being living under complex circumstances in which his wishes are constantly subordinated to the historical, cultural and architectural heritage. The project allows exploring and taking “Habaneros” to the limit by recreating their life experience and disclosing what they really care about. It is composed of diptychs which lead to incomplete conclusions as to who we were turned into and which way we chose. A symbolism in faces and objects without order, annoying at times, amusing at others, and, - at best, - bringing about noble emotions. But also freely discloses the day by day life of the grass roots Cuban, that human being said to be lovely, cheerful and noisily festive, who unconsciously, conceals his wisdom and pride. A “Cubano” in search of light, having one hundred percent adaptability to the world, and perhaps a very proud person. Only by noticing the scars on streets, walls and roofs, may one discover his true essence.
This is the concept
"The Cuban, the Cuban from Havana, who has from all over Cuba and almost from all over the world is an extremely complex being. We cannot understand it without approaching its history, what defines it, without analyzing its labyrinths. Those paths that mark how the life of the Cuban who lives in Cuba is constantly subordinated to the historical, cultural and architectural heritage of the island. In the constant search to understand it, the idea for the HavanaSoy project and the Pinchando series was born. HavanaSoy has several parts, first I prepare questions that will help me understand the person, then in a casual interview, a personal conversation, where I let the individual surface their emotions, I discover that they marked their actions and why today they look like this. At that time I take photos and videos of them, trying to capture the moment that they are no longer in front of me, but in that space that human beings can travel with our minds, that can squeeze our hearts or question our existence. They can also bring smiles, but like a good Cuban there are cracks everywhere. Then I ask them for everything they want, what identifies them, everything they keep as valuables to remember and rethink. There the second photo emerges. A symbolism in faces and objects without order that sometimes annoy, sometimes distract and in the best of cases make worthy emotions emerge. In Pinchando I go out to understand that environment. To understand why so much laughter, so much joy, why that pride that grows. I try to understand where our wisdom, our value, is hidden. I let the streets, walls and ceilings attack me, tell me stories. I want to understand why we are 100 percent adaptable to any part of the world. I go wildly breathing, deeply, the ordinary Cuban. "
music: Cuba Linda