Colors of Cuba: A Photo Essay
The past year has been an eventful one in the fraught recent history of the UnitedStates and Cuba.
In March, seven months after the U.S. reopened its long-shuttered embassy inHavana, Barack Obama became the first U.S. president in 88 years to visit the Caribbeannation. American hoteliers are preparing to put their names on Cuban lodgings. Legaltourism from the U.S. has spiked amid relaxed travel rules, and U.S. airlines are expectedto start direct, scheduled service to Havana this fall. Cruise ships have made directcrossings from Florida already.
Amid all this, photographer Glenn Asakawa (Jour’86) has traveled to Cuba twice,photographing a nation and a people on the cusp of potentially transformative change.His arresting work (see slide show above)captures the life and spirit ofthe island and its people as they are, largely unaffected — for better and worse — by allthat may soon come.
“Their colorful art and unique sense of fashion were a photographer’s dream,” saidAsakawa, a member of the Rocky Mountain News photography staff that won a Pulitzer Prizein 2000 and 鶹ѰBoulder’s chief photographer since 2008. “It was delightful capturing momentsof bonding between generations, especially in Havana’s limited public Wi-Fi areas.Everywhere I was greeted with warm smiles and a friendliness not often seen at home.”
The relationship between the U.S. and Communist Cuba remains complex, and thedirection and pace of change will hinge on political developments in both nations.
But with the door now ajar for Americans, Asakawa plans to keep going back: He’s gotthree more trips on the books already.
Photos by Glenn Asakawa