Steve Cagan - Contact Sheet Number 104
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Photographers who are concerned about social conditions in the world face some difficult responsibilities and problems that stem from the very nature of the photographic medium. Photography, more than any other medium, is bound up with image and content and makes claim to a higher level of accuracy in representation than can ever be achieved. This claim to accuracy has resulted in a confidence that both its practitioners and its viewers have placed in the medium to represent the world truthfully, which in turn has produced a belief that photographers can help us understand the world simply by making and displaying pictures.

Confidence in photography's ability to speak the truth can create traps for photographers who use the medium to communicate about social realities. When the subjects are people who live in a culture different from that of the photographer, problems inherent in photography are compounded by issues of language, race, and class. The cultural concerns are even greater for a photographer working in Cuba, not only facing the differences in culture and language (the problem is epitomized for me when I am asked, "What do people in the U.S. eat in place of rice and beans?"), but also working in a country which has assumed an over- whelming and distorting political symbolism for nearly everyone who discusses it with passionate interest.

I don't want to suggest that photography cannot be used to examine and communicate about the lives of real people in the real world, only that we need to pay attention to the potential dangers. Unfortunately some photographers convince themselves too easily that they have overcome all the cultural gaps. Worse, many people never even recognize that the problem is there. If we acknowledge the issues and attempt to confront them honestly and with humility we may be able to find the places where we can connect in genuine human solidar- ity rather than make superficial protestations that we are all the same.

In my approach to this work I have been affected by a potent combination of desire to be supportive of movements for progressive social and political change; a growing sense of the importance of openness and objectivity even in partisan environments; and post- modern theory, especially its challenge of "neutrality" or "objectivity" in media or social science. As a result, I am convinced of the possibility and the necessity of "engaged scholarship" and "engaged journalism." (Even though I know that there are people who find these phrases oxymoronic or even offensive.)

Cuba presents a particularly difficult and useful challenge to someone who wants to be both supportive and critical, engaged and objective. An overwhelming burden of symbolic importance has been placed on this country by both the right and the left. It is virtually impossible to take a complex and balanced position without first running up against one's own ideological predispositions and then being roundly attacked by everyone who has an ideological or political stake in the discussion, both those who support the revolutionary government and those who oppose it. But it is important for that very reason to make the effort.

Most material produced about Cuba employs one of two general approaches. The first deals in grand terms with political or economic issues-the future of Fidel Castro; the politics of the U. S. blockade; the meaning of foreign investments; counterrevolutionary espionage or sabotage, or espionage on behalf of the revolution; the "new world order." Whether supportive or critical, most of this material employs descriptions of ordinary people only to bolster arguments about policy questions. It ignores issues of daily life, the arena where much of the real significance of the Cuban experience, both positive and negative, is to be found.

The second approach presents an image of a Cuba that is hungry and isolated, either arguing that this is the result of a generation of communist tyranny and inefficiency, or showing Cuba as a little David, suffering as a consequence of the U. S. blockade and the fall of the socialist camp, confronting the Goliath of the north. Either way, this approach tends to reduce real life to ideological symbolism and to employ images of an idealized stereotype of the "Cuban," rather than examining the daily lives of working people.

These approaches express some important and useful insights, but they present only partial views of Cuban social reality. Moreover, when assumed by Foreigners they represent a perspective of outsiders looking in, rarely including the viem-points of the Cuban people.

Between 1993 and 1997 I had the good fortune to make six visits to Cuba. Two of these trips were made to ,mist in the production of videotapes, and ti-om those visits grew a desire to explore some OF what I found interesting and surprising there. Like most people in tlie U.S., I had scen in the press and even in cultural production in this eountrv nothing but ima~es of ~,conomic hardship and doubt, products of the so-called ,pecial perioc{-the period of economic and social ditfi- 1ulties caused by the collapse of the Soviet bloc. As a rIfsult, one of the tlnings that most struck nm was the ,imple fact of mam- people working and stru (11,11 m, to maintain a dignified life and a viable ftmilv em- iron-went. In the midst of crisis and uncertaintv, at the level A nornnal working people. I tound a surprisin`, amount ,~t what looked like normalcy.

Based on those experiences, and on a new- network ,)t extensive contacts with administrators and workers. L.idemics and journalists. mid people I have come to :a ow as neighbors and fiends in the u-ca; where I staw, I began to develop a documentary project about the ,)rdinarv lives of Cubans.

My initial impulse was to docunrent work itself, so :hr first steps were organized around functioning w-ork- -lnces. I managed to makc extended visits (days at o time md repeated several times) to two different factories, an v,-ricultural cooperative, and a major construction "roject. By spending signiticant amounts of time without ;uides and without an agenda I was able to understand ,onnething about the rhythm of life and work in those :,laces and, more importantly, to become tiiendly with '0me of the «rorkers and known to man- of them.

Soon my interest shifted to a closer examination ,)f several families of workers, and I have begun to .locument daily life among those folks over tirme- tlthoubh for me it's impossible to completely avoid A01-king in the surrounding streets as well.

I've been interested in exploring the ways critical <,ucs in the "special period" are experienced at the

grassroots level-shortages of foods and other basic goods, reductions in real income, insecurity about employment, as well ns changes in the laws governing private economic activity and other challenges to socialist orthodoxy. The work I've done so far only scratches the surtace of these complex issues. I see what I've done to date as the initial steps toward a much more extensive project of presenting the lives of the people I've come to know- in these environments.

In the meantinne, I try to n1inimize the power ineyualitiea between photographer and subjects in this work. By establishing relationships with the people I photograph I have attcmpted to avoid the "paratrooper„ mcntalitv and practice so Common in documentary photography-the tendeucv to jump into a scene, quickly take some picturea. and lcave just as abruptly. Indeed, some of the subjects became h-iends. I have also come to ',CC emironmental portraiture as useful in addrcssin~~ the pwer issue. As these kinds of images have the virtue OF allowing a sort of shared gaze betwccn subject, Photographer. and viewer. Invited by the open gazt of the subjcct,, the vicwer can look at them intentlv ovcr time-not to steal a look, but to engage.

fhoto(,raphv hv itsclf Can onlv impart a rather limited amount of information. and we need to provide comextual support tor more intormrd readinys. I hope

that the openness of the subjects, the range of moods and ideas their expressions auggeat, and N-isual and emotional engagemcnt with thern will provide the viewers a kind of door which they may pass through, and in doing so, demand more information to help understand what we share and how we differ ti-onn one another.

The extent to which I achieve that goal can be judged bv the reactions of viewers. If the people who look at these images are stimulated to engage at some level with the people in the pictures, if they decide they need to learn more or to act in some positive way-that is, if they decide to pass through that door, then I believe I will have accomplished something.

.SteruWcylnto ~019)9

Since the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989, Cuba lost the majority of its commerce and economic aid from it's once powerful ally. Cuba has been passing through what its leadership refers to as "the special period" where its people have been asked to make tremendous personal sacrifices in order to preserve their way of life. The expression "no es facil" (it's not easy) became a popular slogan among the Cuban people duriny this time of economic difficulty and political change. The title for this exhibition, No es facil/It's Not Easy. has a dual meaning in that it also refers to Steve Cagan's own acknowledgment of the difficulty of working in Cuba as a U.S. photographer.

The extremes with which Cuba is represented in the media range from portrayals of a country whose citizens want to flee Communist oppression, to a Caribbean paradise tourists want to visit, to a small country desperately stuggling to maintain its socialist indentity against unceasing pressure from the United States. The emphasis of Cagan's photographs are the lives of everyday Cuban citizens, and for many of us these images may - provide the first window into the lives of the ordinary citizen Cagan's images to do not assume the pretense of neutrality, he is very clear about his intentions and motivations as a photog- rapher. Cagan is a political activist for social change and for the rights of workers in his personal and professional life, and for him photography functions as a powerful tool to increase awareness and inspire change.

Cagan is a member of the cooperative photo agency Impact Visuals, whose members are dedicated to social change. but even the socially conscious photographer risks their work being taken out of the context or misrepresented III its

or presentation. Many photographers who define themselves as documentarians or photojournalists have limited control over the final presentation of their work which can-in the process of cropping, editing, orjuxtaposilg with other images or text- alter the reading of the image. This is a greater problem for the subjects of the photograph who have even less control over their image. Cagan's photographs are intended as a collaboration between photographer and subject, granting them a degree of respect they are usually not afforded. 1n creating these images the photographer spent n considerable period of time in the workplaces and homes of his subjects before photographing the, allowing his subjects to reveal something of themselves to the camera-their apprehensions, opinions, their ability to endure and even prosper.

Prior to the 1959 revolution, Cuba was the playground for the rich where any indulgence was permitted. It was also a haven for organized crime, corrupt politicians, and all exploitable resource for North American businesses. The revolution fractured the Cuban people, forcing many to flee the country, but the majority of the population remained to embrace the Communist government of Fidel Castro. It was the majority of Cubans who had previously lived under conditions of `severe poverty that reaped the benefits of the revolution, particularly in the areas of education and health care. Everyday life is not easy durin,, this "special period," but Most Cubans accept these conditions because they feel that the gains which have Cell made sincc the r - -

through COdav Cuba find 1

itself C \ virtually alone in the world III its attempts t0 maintain a socialist society.

"For better or worse. this is who we are and what we are doing. It's not up to you to change us or to tell us how to live:" This is the predominate message Cagan has received from the many Cubans he has come to know and consider his friends. and he believes that it may be best expressed in the lyrics of a song by Carlos Puebla: "Nuestro vino es de platano, nuestro vino/Aunque Sale amargo, CS nuestro vion." "Our wine is Made from bananas, our wine/And even if it comes our bitter, ICS our wine."

Garry Hesse

Associate Director, Light Work

This work mould not have been possible without the help "/ the Centro de Prensa Internacional and the Union de Periodistas (it, Who the

arrangements for my visits to workplaces, and who were open enough to understand my need ,/or longer than most people ask for. The Cubans arid resident foreigners _

who helped are too numerous to mention, but the kind work I'm doing depends entirely on the understanding, patience, and support of subjects and

17y ability to do work, was materially aided by generous project tram the Ohio . I Arts Council. I Finaly, I'd like to thank the staff n% Light Work /or offeringme the o11 opportunity ~ to make the initial prints nt many ol these images ,r; nr . _ - . , r l Artist-in-Residence, nrrd for r their support ,

rt and useful criticism and suggestions

throughought the process and to Lisa Jong-Soon Goodlin for copyediting this "(Contact Sheet.

For Beth Beth: Tiernamente llegabas hasta el fondo/donde rah' la careta )' :nrar , ,r rl mirdo 'rnc arrebaas mi historia/mis tinieblas, 1 r para darme la hr_ 1c h_ ,' ells all. q que l _all. Steve Cagan, 1999

Front Cover: Cooperative Farm Near Alquizar, 1996 Pena is always referred to by his last lname. He does a lot of support work, helping in the kitchen, supervising and maintaining the water system. Back Cover: CoonExATrvr FAxnr NEAR Ae.QuizaR, 1996 Small shrine ill Rolvrrrlo'~ Eerlroorn in rrrerrrory of Iris mother mid his rmther-in-law