James Sparshatt

El Revolucionario by James Sparshatt. Black and white portrait from Cuba. 2000

2000

El revolucionario – a gentleman of Old Havana. The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dramatic changes of 1959 as young adults. They hav...

El revolucionario – a gentleman of Old Havana. The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dramatic changes of 1959 as young adults. They hav...

A tobacco farmer from the Viñales valley in Cuba. In 1959 residents of Cuba were faced with a stark choice: stay on their island home and live as a “revolutionary” or leave. Some believed wholeheartedly in the new beginning, some were willing to be carried along and some abandoned everything they had and chose exile. The Buena Vista social club found fame as much for their incredible spirit as for their music, but for me it is the everyman that you meet on the street, cigar clamped between teeth, a glint in the eye, that embodies the true spirit of those who have lived through 50 years of struggle. James Sparshatt’s photographs of the “Revolutionary” generation of Cubans capture their grit and indominatable spirit. The black and white portrait photograph...

On a musical and pleasure seeking pilgrimage… during Las Romerias de Mayo festival in Holguín. The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dramatic changes of 1959 as young adults. They have a strength of character and underlying humour that transcends the struggle that has defined their lives. James Sparshatt went to Cuba in 1999 and was so taken with the island and its people that he returned 15 times in the following 7 years. His images are largely of the music and dance and innate rhythm of the island but he also found himself drawn to an older generation that had been old enough to understand the revolution in 1959, that lived through 40 years of tumultuous and often difficult times and who now watch with some bemusement the return of the outside world in wave upon wave of tourists. James Sparshatt’s photographs of the “Revolutionary” generation of Cubans capture their grit and indominatable spirit. The black and white portrait photograph...

This digital print is part of a limited edition set. Steve Schlackman is a lawyer by profession and a photographer by choice. Fascinated by the magical world of photography since his youth, he honed this skill over time, meticulously pouring over all things photographic, technical and creative alike, with unstoppable enthusiasm. Steve’s passion for taking photographs was ignited early on, during a study-abroad trip to Paris, where he immersed himself in all things art historical. Diligence, a strong trait Schlackman is known for, paid off, and after daily meanderings at the Louvre, a great love for art emerged along with hundreds of photographs. These pictures proved to be early tributes to the urban landscape, and although they didn’t amount to full-on series, a seed was planted. The omnipresent tension between the poor neighborhoods of the Cuban capital, as a result of political dictatorship, and the rich Afro-Cuban cultural roots of their inhabitants, whose wealth is represented by their music and feelings, is physically visible in Steve’s use of high contrast, a metaphoric touch on the subject of the light and darkness of the Afro-Cuban heritage. Although intentionally apolitical, the pictures speak volumes about the Cuban status quo and, appropriately, the eternal joy of living despite socio-political hardship. Play, in and of itself a mode to survive the harsh reality, represents another subject Steve is keen on capturing. Whether it is adults playing dominoes...

Waiting for Fidel Castro, 1959 by American photographer Burt Glinn is a series of (2) photos, each photo is 9.5" x 12” - they are gelatin silver RC press prints, authenticated by the...

Limited Edition Series Photograph. Black and White Photography by Cuban Photographer René Peña, Self Portrait René Peña (Rene de Jesus Pena Gonzalez) is a self-taught photographer born in Havana, Cuba in 1957. His photography is characterized by stark contrasts, between black and white, subject and background, subject and object. His work often focuses on the duality between human inability to escape institutionalization and human desire for individualism. His interest in contrast is also reflected in his place of residence: Peña currently inhabits the Cerro neighborhood of Cuba which is home to a mostly poor African-Caribbean population, despite having been an enclave of Havana's richest families in the 19th century. René Peña graduated from the Higher pedagogic Institute of Foreign Languages, University of Havana with a specialization in English in 1983. In the late 1980s he entered the national world of photography and since 1990 became leader of the new trends of Cuban photography, first by handling interiors and domestic situations in modern-day Cuba and later making studies of his own body in aspects such as negritude, sexual ambiguity and the influence of consumerism through self-portraits. He conceives his series on the basis of a conceptual, formal and structurally different analysis of all the parameters established up to the present, going from a brutal expressionism to a distinct homoeroticism, with strong mystic elements, trends from experimental painting, and a certain theatrical dramatization. He has had important solo shows and participated in group exhibitions in Cuba, the United States, Venezuela, Canada, France and Germany. His work is part of important collections, not only national but also at world level, such as the National Museum of Fine Arts, Cuba; the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba; Reinhard Schultz Collection, Germany; photographic archive Tuscany, Italy; Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona, USA; Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA; collection of the province of Hainuat, Belgium; and Lehigh University Pennsylvania...

Limited Edition Series Photograph. Black and White Photography by Cuban Photographer René Peña, Self Portrait René Peña (Rene de Jesus Pena Gonzalez) is a self-taught photographer born in Havana, Cuba in 1957. His photography is characterized by stark contrasts, between black and white, subject and background, subject and object. His work often focuses on the duality between human inability to escape institutionalization and human desire for individualism. His interest in contrast is also reflected in his place of residence: Peña currently inhabits the Cerro neighborhood of Cuba which is home to a mostly poor African-Caribbean population, despite having been an enclave of Havana's richest families in the 19th century. René Peña graduated from the Higher pedagogic Institute of Foreign Languages, University of Havana with a specialization in English in 1983. In the late 1980s he entered the national world of photography and since 1990 became leader of the new trends of Cuban photography, first by handling interiors and domestic situations in modern-day Cuba and later making studies of his own body in aspects such as negritude, sexual ambiguity and the influence of consumerism through self-portraits. He conceives his series on the basis of a conceptual, formal and structurally different analysis of all the parameters established up to the present, going from a brutal expressionism to a distinct homoeroticism, with strong mystic elements, trends from experimental painting, and a certain theatrical dramatization. He has had important solo shows and participated in group exhibitions in Cuba, the United States, Venezuela, Canada, France and Germany. His work is part of important collections, not only national but also at world level, such as the National Museum of Fine Arts, Cuba; the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba; Reinhard Schultz Collection, Germany; photographic archive Tuscany, Italy; Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona, USA; Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA; collection of the province of Hainuat, Belgium; and Lehigh University Pennsylvania...