One night only, picture screening & talk

Moderated by New Yorker staff writer Jon Lee Anderson

Tuesday June 27th, 2017, 7:00 PM

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In the fall of 1992, I made my first trip to Cuba. For many years I had strongly desired Cuba, as if longing for a woman that you can’t get out of your mind. The island completely changed my life: there I met my future life-companion Sissy, and we became the proud parents of our twin boys Pietro and Stefano. In Cuba I was a happy man and felt like home. It seemed like I had traveled back in time to the Sicily of my happy childhood.

 

I spent fourteen years living on the island until one day I was told by the Cuban authorities that I could no longer teach my photographic workshops. On the 4th of July, 2006, my family and I were forced to leave. I thought I’d never return, considering that I had become persona non grata.

 

But thanks to a dream Sissy had, on July 13th, 2016, I returned after a 10-year absence.

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ERNESTO BAZAN (b. 1959, Sicily), graduated from NYC's SVA school in 1982. His books include: The Perpetual Past, Passing Through, The First Twenty Years, Island, Molo Nord.

 

From 1992 to 2006, he lived in Cuba, documenting the unique time in Cuban history called The Special Period. His work has garnered some of the world most prestigious photographic awards, among them The W. Eugene Smith grant, the Mother Jones Foundation for Photojournalism, the Dorothea Lang Paul Taylor prize, the World Press Photo, and fellowships from the Alicia Patterson and Guggenheim Foundations.

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In 2008, with the help of many of his students he founded BazanPhotos Publishing. Thanks to the generous support from friends, students, and followers he has self-published his entire Cuban trilogy: Bazan Cuba (2008), Al Campo (2011), and Isla 2014.