2024-03-17 22:49:26
Photo: Jorge Luis Borges
Text: Karla Castillo Moret
Covid-19 is no longer a justification for some events to be suspended, from the adoption of virtual solutions to in-person ones with few guests, they have allowed art to regain its space in the daily life of Cubans.
Under this premise comes this year’s Photographic November, which comes to remember the uses that have been given to photography on the island, a way to celebrate the 180 years of its arrival to the country, and of course, the exhibitions and other activities have been adapted to the conditions imposed by the coronavirus.
Thus, the virtual spaces will be used, but we will have to dispense with the theoretical segment that usually accompanies the program. The luck is that once again all the galleries in Havana will join in and for this edition exhibition spaces from the Pinar del Río provinces will participate. , Cienfuegos, Artemisa and Camagüey.
There will be a total of 23 exhibitions in galleries and six virtual ones, some of them can already be enjoyed because they are open to the public or available on the networks, likewise, others will be inaugurated in the month of December.
The Fototeca de Cuba has prepared weekly thematic blocks for social networks, its own website and the two galleries it has, the first one, focused on the anthropological uses of photography, is on the web and will then be shown from 9 to 13 that linked to police and criminalistic photography.
Next, the third block will be dedicated to celebrating the founding of the Photo Library on November 15, 1984, with three exhibitions between the 16th and 20th: Photographic Alchemy, in the María Eugenia Haya gallery (Marucha); Archeology of color, in Joaquín Blez; and Stereoscopic Journey, in the Lombillo Palace, belonging to the City Historian’s Office.
The fourth block will take advantage of the virtual spaces offered by Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and will have as lead motive advertising, to be followed by a fifth block about photography as entertainment and its support for pedagogy, and then by one about the family album and objects that have supported that art.
Among the physical exhibitions that we recommend not to lose sight of, is the Matria exhibition, by Gabriel Dávalos, on the Rampa Habanera, which will be inaugurated on the 12th.
Photographic November, although in a modest way, is one of the few events dedicated purely to photography, an opportunity to strengthen the bond with and delve into the paths of this art of light.