Really close. That speaks of his relationship with the country, which he has been traveling to several times a year for the last decade.
Struck he was, by the intimate atmosphere, and the vibrant hues that attracts so many other travelers to Cuba. So strong was the pull that he was on a plane to Havana a week later. What appealed to him most on that first visit, was the extraordinary warmth of the Cubans that he had met β they were what brought him back to Cuba, time and again over a span of ten years.
Getting to work is always a headache. Because of the fuel shortage, everyday errands can take hours. People eat with the seasons, and have a diet of rice, black beans, chicken or pork. This creates a major gap between a government and a private sector income. Thus, what you end up with are university professors driving taxis, and doctors who choose to work as barkeepers.
Against backdrops of crumbling walls, broken mirrors and grand colonial facades, are Cubans going about their daily lives: a child with neon bands in her braids, peeping at the camera; an older man lighting a cigar, who was part of Fidel Castro personal escort at the age of 16; a young boy pushing a hoop across a tiled porch with slatted wooden walls, framed by lush vegetation.
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rsta office. "Sluts in Stockholm")
Each of these photos capture such vivid movement and feeling that we start to wonder what happened after the photo was made. What about the frame after, and the one after that? Our eyes follow the horizon of the frame, wandering between foreground and background, subject and their environment. He returns to the same places and people year after year, allowing himself to be absorbed by Cuba and its people, forging relationships that grow stronger with time and presence.
