‘All people are waiting’

2018 - Ongoing

Havana, the capital city of Cuba. Often depicted in beautiful bright colours and vintage cars, this documentary series seeks to craft a deeper portrayal of the pride, complexity, and the seemingly-eternal waiting of the Cubanos.

The photographer recalls earlier years, on one side peppered with Russian propaganda about Cuba’s greatness, and on theWestern side, witnessing the simultaneous condemnation and commercialisation of the famed revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara and his communist ideals, whose portrait by Cuban photographer Alberto Korda inspired the face that launched a thousand t-shirts.

Influenced by this history, one echoed in memories of a childhood spent living in post-communism chaos, it was the music which sealed WanderBlack’s fascination with Cuba. Ultimately, the series is inspired by the emotion-filled, powerful rhythms of the son cubano, the bolero, the danzón, each with roots mired in history.

The sound and soul of Havana’s streets -a blend of histories, cultures, races - flow through the images, past the vintage cars, past the bright-coloured buildings, past the surface-level, a glimpse of Havana’s true heart; the pride of the Cubanos, their resilience and strong cultural identity, present even in the empty spaces.

Images of people waiting - at the barbers, in the street - young, old and everything in between. Waiting for change, but when will change come? A feeling of the seconds steadily ticking by, palpable throughout the series. It’s history that is happening right now; one that is tentatively changing, slowly but surely.