Cuba, Then & Now installation, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery
Cuba, Then & Now installation, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery
Cuba, Then & Now installation, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery
Cuba, Then & Now installation, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery
Ernesto Bazan, Cuba, Isla, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, children, micky mouse, minnie, Havana, panoramic

ERNESTO BAZAN
Children, Mickey Mouse, and Minnie Mouse, Viñales, 2003
Gelatin Silver Print
​13 x 20 in.

Ernesto Bazan, Cuba, Isla, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, wrestlers, beach, Havana, panoramic

ERNESTO BAZAN
Young wrestlers, Havana, 2003
Gelatin Silver Print
​13 x 20 in.

Ernesto Bazan, Cuba, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, Bazan, Santiago de las Vegas, Saint Lazarus, devotee, candles, Special Period

ERNESTO BAZAN
Devotee offering candles to Saint Lazarus, Santiago de las Vegas, 1995
Gelatin Silver Print
11 x 14 in.

Ernesto Bazan, Cuba, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, Bazan, girls, holding hands, Havana, Special Period

ERNESTO BAZAN
Girls holding hands, Havana, 1998
Gelatin Silver Print
16 x 20 in.

Magdalena Solé, Cuba - Hasta Siempre (Cuba Forever), Central de Trabajadores de Cuba, Havana, 2013, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery

MAGDALENA SOLÉ
Central de Trabajadores de Cuba, Havana, 2013
Archival Pigment Print
18 x 12 in. | 21 x 14 in.

Magdalena Solé, Cuba - Hasta Siempre (Cuba Forever), Shoes for Sale, Havana, 2013, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery

MAGDALENA SOLÉ
Shoes for Sale, Havana, 2013
Archival Pigment Print
12 x 18 in. | 14 x 21 in.

Magdalena Solé, Cuba - Hasta Siempre (Cuba Forever), Lady in Red with Squid, Mata, 2013, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery

MAGDALENA SOLÉ
Lady in Red with Squid, Mata, 2013
Archival Pigment Print
12 x 18 in. | 14 x 21 in.

Magdalena Solé, Cuba - Hasta Siempre (Cuba Forever), Typewriter at Department of Agriculture, Santiago de Cuba, 2013, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery

MAGDALENA SOLÉ
Typewriter at Department of Agriculture, Santiago de Cuba, 2013
Archival Pigment Print
12 x 18 in. | 14 x 21 in.

Magdalena Solé, Cuba - Hasta Siempre (Cuba Forever), Boy with Fighting Rooster, Baracoa, 2013, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery

MAGDALENA SOLÉ
Boy with Fighting Rooster, Baracoa, 2013
Archival Pigment Print
12 x 18 in. | 14 x 21 in.

Magdalena Solé, Cuba - Hasta Siempre (Cuba Forever), Home in Pink, Gibara, 2013, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery

MAGDALENA SOLÉ
Home in Pink, Gibara, 2013
Archival Pigment Print
12 x 18 in. | 14 x 21 in.

Magdalena Solé, Cuba - Hasta Siempre (Cuba Forever), End of Century, Havana, 2011, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery

MAGDALENA SOLÉ
End of Century, Havana, 2011
Archival Pigment Print
12 x 18 in. | 14 x 21 in.

Magdalena Solé, Cuba - Hasta Siempre (Cuba Forever), Dance Studio, Havana, 2013, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery

MAGDALENA SOLÉ
Dance Studio, Havana, 2013
Archival Pigment Print
12 x 18 in. | 14 x 21 in.

Ernesto Bazan, Cuba, Isla, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, Boy hanging upside down, Trinidad, panoramic

ERNESTO BAZAN
Boy hanging upside down, Trinidad, 2005
Gelatin Silver Print
13 x 20 in.

Ernesto Bazan, Cuba, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, Bazan, Malecon, Havana, Special Period

ERNESTO BAZAN
Boys jumping off the Malecón, Havana, 1996
Gelatin Silver Print
11 x 14 in.

Ernesto Bazan, Cuba, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, Bazan, Remedios, Gynecologist, fetal, Special Period

ERNESTO BAZAN
Gynecologist listening to fetal heartbeat, Remedios, 1996
Gelatin Silver Print
11 x 14 in.

Ernesto Bazan, Cuba, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, Bazan, Dive, Havana, swimming pool, Special Period

ERNESTO BAZAN
Dive, Havana, 1995
Gelatin Silver Print
11 x 14 in.

Video

Press Release

Sous Les Etoiles Gallery is proud to present “Cuba, Then & Now,” a group show featuring the work of Italian photographer Ernesto Bazan and social documentary photographer Magdalena Solé.  Selections from Bazan’s recently completed trilogy on Cuba, shot during the so-called “Special Period,” are paired with Spanish-born Solé’s latest series CUBA - Hasta Siempre (Cuba Forever),  taken between 2011-2015.  An Opening Reception will be held Thursday, June 25, 6-8pm.  Artist’s Talks are scheduled for Monday, June 29, 7-8pm with Ernesto Bazan; and Monday, July 13, 7-8pm with Magdalena Solé.

Ernesto Bazan’s black-and-white photographs, from the vivid street life he captured in the first years after his arrival in Cuba in 1992, to the contemplative panoramic images of ISLA  taken in the years just prior to his departure in 2006, documents one of the most complex times for the island country.  Yet, grounded in warmth, and borne from the artist’s deeply treasured connection with the people of Cuba, the series conveys the heady, erratic energy through the lens of an insider.  For Solé, the island became an unexpected balm, transporting the artist to the Spain she remembered from her childhood.  While Cuba remained in the backwaters of American consciousness, Solé rejoiced to see the simple repasts of 1960s Spain alive and well in Cuba, and sought to reveal through her signature eye for color the first stirrings of transformation in a country on the brink of change. 

Ernesto Bazan, b. 1959 in Palermo, is represented in the collections of such prestigious museums as the Museum of Modern Art and the International Center of Photography in New York City; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX.  Bazan is the recipient of the W. Eugene Smith Grant; Mother Jones International Fund for Documentary Photography; Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize at Duke University, NC; and the World Press Photo award; as well as fellowships from the Alicia Patterson Foundation and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.  In 2009, his book “Bazan Cuba” was awarded Book of the Year at the New York Photo Festival, and his panoramic series ISLA  was published for the first time in 2014.

Magdalena Solé is a social documentary photographer concerned with communities at the edge of society.  Known for her sensitive expressions of culture through distinctive color artistry, her photographs describe brief moments of human existence, carried by the rhythm of a setting.  Her previous series Mississippi Delta,  featuring the oft-overlooked community of the iconic Delta region, was exhibited at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA in 2014, and the Southeast Museum of Photography in Daytona Beach, FL in 2013.  In 2011 she was awarded the Silver Prize at Slow Exposures, Concord, GA. 

Back To Top