An exhibition of photographs by Enrique de la Uz
Consistently recognized as one of Cuba’s most famous post-revolutionary photographers, Enrique de la Uz significantly contributed to the visual iconography for which Cuban photography is first known, particularly through his black and white series focusing on workers in the annual zafra, the sugar cane harvest. Through exposure in the national press media in the 1970’s, his images were essential to the formation of the visual identity for Cuba’s new citizen-worker, the national figure who typified the ideals of the post-Bautista era, here expressed as an enduring social documentary reality in visual terms.
De la Uz collaborated with Swiss photographer Luc Chessex in the development of the series “No hay otro modo de hacer la zafra” (There is No Other Way to Harvest the Cane), the emblematic work which successfully embraced the social ideals of the post-revolutionary order after its first ten years. This work was exhibited at Havana’s Museum of Fine Arts in a time when photography first achieved the same level of relevance as the Cuban paintings of the era.
De la Uz’s photographs have endured the ensuing years as vital expressions of photographic art within a diverse pantheon of Cuban images from many photographers working at the time. He subsequently pursued a long career in the arts, directing numerous documentary films, working as film critic and arts writer, exhibiting internationally and engaging collaborations with other photographers while simultaneously developing a lifetime of socially important images that he has dedicated to Cuba.
The photographs in the exhibition are a combination of original darkroom prints made by the artist and archival inkjet prints produced by U.S. photographer Charles Anselmo. The digital reproductions were made in collaboration with de la Uz several years before his death in 2018.
Cuba Zafra by Enrique de la Uz Exhibition, gallery view