Working under a research visa issued by the U.S. government I spent 10 weeks in Cuba photographing in museums during the summer of 2005. I traversed the island, visiting eight provinces and over 30 museums. I documented an immense amount of subject matter resulting in a very unique perspective of a country that is narrowly understood by Americans. My work is a raw, un-romanticized look at the important artifacts placed on display by the Cubans themselves. The reticent items used to inform, compare and explain do so because they represent significant yet verbally difficult concepts of history, culture and science in Cuba. These concepts however, are heavily regulated by the government and make the museum narratives and my images a complex stratum of information that examines what dictates the Cuban way of thinking.

These museums are embodiments of a society that is rapidly changing. As the world globalizes and the strength of Cuba’s identity wanes on the shoulders of an aging Fidel Castro the important relics I have documented, the ones that have been so diligently preserved by Cuba, will possibly be replaced with new ideas and more modern ways to remember the past. The present cultural warehouses of Cuba might be left unguarded and commercialization will dictate what is important to preserve from the past. These images are an important documentation of a country that is emerging from a partially opened time capsule. Looking solely at the material collections of a society of people, the images are powerfully descriptive.