Cuba is not only a travel destination for many, but is also always in the focus of world events, especially when the former dictator Fidel Castro died in 2016. Slanted Publishers has now published a photo book for Fidel Castro's 90th birthday, "Cuba - 90 años fidel", which shows the most diverse places in Cuba during the period of his birthday - with a foreword by the jazz pianist Marialy Pacheco.
"We Cubans never completely leave Cuba when we emigrate. We carry our island with us forever, wherever we go. Cuba embodies our culture, our way of being, our way of seeing things, Cuba is more than just a country. The Caribbean island is our philosophy of life."
This is how the internationally renowned Cuban jazz pianist Marialy Pacheco describes the Cubans' attitude to life in the foreword to the book "CUBA - 90 years of Fidel Castro". The Caribbean state was shaped by the legendary revolution of the Castro brothers and their friend Chief Guevara, the victory over the dictator Fulgencio Batista and the annexation of revolutionary Cuba to the Eastern bloc. This socialist enclave 144 kilometers off the coast of Florida has existed for over 50 years. The images by the internationally acclaimed photographer Dirk Gebhardt show the reader Cuban life realities away from the usual tourist images and thus open up the reality of the Cubans in a colorful and compassionate way. With improvisation, idealism and "laissez fair", the Cubans try to overcome economic hardship, defy the heat and uphold their ideals.
The book shows 75 images from various places in Cuba. From Remedios to Trinidad and Havana to Viñales in the west of the country. All of the images were taken in the summer of 2016 during the celebrations for Fidel Castro's 90th birthday. The images are juxtaposed with typical Cuban propaganda slogans and statements by Cubans critical of the regime. The message of the book develops in this field of tension: the life of Cubans is not as we think.
The book is being published in a limited edition of 250 signed copies. It has 166 pages with 75 photographs, a foreword by Marialy Pacheco and an afterword by Dirk Gebhardt. (Text by Isabella Krüger)
Cuba – 90 años Fidel
un recuerdo de cuba
Design: Lars Harmsen
Editor and photographer: Dirk Gebhardt
Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Published: December 2016
Size: 166 pages, 75 photographs
Format: 17 x 24 cm
Language: Spanish, German and English
Version: Hardcover, open thread binding
ISBN: 978-3-9818296-1-7
Price: 24.90 euros / SOULD OUT
