Ernesto Bazan’s black-and-white photographs, from the vivid street life he captured in the first years after his arrival in Cuba in 1992, to the contemplative panoramic images of ISLA  taken in the years just prior to his departure in 2006, documents one of the most complex times for the island country.  Yet, grounded in warmth, and borne from the artist’s deeply treasured connection with the people of Cuba, the series conveys the heady, erratic energy through the lens of an insider.

Bazan is the recipient of the W. Eugene Smith Grant; Mother Jones International Fund for Documentary Photography; Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize at Duke University, NC; and the World Press Photo award; as well as fellowships from the Alicia Patterson Foundation and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.  In 2009, his book “Bazan Cuba” was awarded Book of the Year at the New York Photo Festival, and his panoramic series ISLA  was published for the first time in 2014.