Andrey Gordasevich

La Habana: Portraits on the Road

At a time when Google is making any space and any information available at any moment, people are increasingly intrigued by specific focus points. The smaller the focus, the greater the interest it can generate. As it turns out, the history of photography is in many ways an approach to more and more intimate territories of the human personality.

After visiting Cuba in 2006 I had a good idea of various towns and the general rhythm of life there. Now I thought it was important to return, restricting myself to the boundaries of Havana and looking at the small spaces of individuals. It was imperative for me to act right now, when many people in Cuba not only talk of imminent changes but also have no clear understanding of what that really means and if it is a positive or negative factor — although very diverse answers can be given to this question, too.

In the broadest sense and from a photographer’s point of view, time is always a negative, since whatever was once the subject of a shoot is gradually obliterated. Photography cannot preserve anything, but it can help us remember. In my case, to remember changing corners of Havana that have some personal significance.

This gave rise to the idea of ‘La Habana: Portraits On The Road’: every day I mapped out a route across Havana and on the way got to know people out in the street. Sometimes Josefina, who provided us with accommodation, introduced us to her neighbours. Havana is a city of constant motion that is accentuated by colour, even in comparatively static shots. Because life here is conducted with doors and windows flung open, most of the portraits were taken on the street or a few steps away from it — in this sense they too are ON THE ROAD.

My goal was to make portraits of people in their own environment, after which I would seek a characteristic detail to accompany the portrait and enhance it. Sometimes this was a detail not included in the first shot, sometimes the objects appeared in both shots from a different perspective. Here and there I used the illusion of drawing closer to the object, showing something already photographed in the first image apparently close-up in the second, and so on. All this serves to create an effect of close scrutiny and helps the spectator pay a ‘visit’ to each, visually exploring the space. In the interior portraits it is comparatively easy to spot the ‘token’ detail, but on the street it is much harder to single out one detail from the general scene. I tried to embrace as many different professions and occupations as possible and asked each subject their name, making every effort to portray them as individuals rather than types.

Of course ON THE ROAD is also a reference to another ON THE ROAD, another road — wherever a photographer working on any given theme can be found.

Andrey Gordasevich