“I think Surrealism is very poetic, and perhaps for that reason my work has something of a mystical feeling.” Raúl Cañibano
Mee-Lai Stone (The Guardian) highlights the work of Cuban photographer Raúl Cañibano, who “worked as a welder before beginning a photographic journey he describes as ‘somehow surrealist.’”
A series of his early and recent work is on view in “Raúl Cañibano: Human Landscapes”— an exhibition that celebrates Cañibano’s profound love for his native country. “Raúl Cañibano: Human Landscapes” is at The Photographers’ Gallery until April 7, 2024. The Gallery writes:
Explore the captivating essence of Cuba through the lens of Raúl Cañibano (b.1961, Havana) in our Print Sales Gallery exhibition Raúl Cañibano: Human Landscapes.
Raised in post-revolutionary Cuba and initially a welder by trade, Cañibano’s photographic journey began in 1984. Self-taught and inspired by the art books at Cuba’s National Library, Cañibano soon developed his own style, which he calls “somehow surrealist.” This surrealist sensibility appears in his playful use of scale, often contrasting uncannily close-up subjects with distant figures to evoke mysterious affinities and tensions. Everyday scenes take on poetic and mystical qualities tinged with a political edge.
Cañibano’s large, open-ended photographic essays that allow him to explore the complexity of urban and rural life in Cuba. Taking an anthropological approach, he documents a way of life that he believes will soon vanish. Having travelled extensively across the country, often living with his subjects for months at a time, Cañibano offers an intimate, often humorous or profound perspective on the island’s identity, providing a window into Cañibano’s Cuba, from the small farming communities of his childhood to the exuberance of Havana and the Malecón.
Prints are available to purchase from £1,500 + VAT. All profits from print sales support The Photographers’ Gallery public programme. With special thanks to exhibition liaison, Dr James Clifford Kent (Royal Holloway, University of London.)
For Mee-Lai Stone’s photo gallery, with information on the artist, see https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/jan/30/dive-into-the-surreal-strange-views-of-cuba-in-pictures
Also see The Photographers’ Gallery (https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/raul-canibano-human-landscapes).
[Shown above: Something strange afoot … Raúl Cañibano’s “Habana,” 2023. Photograph: Courtesy of the artist and The Photographers’ Gallery/Raúl Cañibano.]
“I think Surrealism is very poetic, and perhaps for that reason my work has something of a mystical feeling.” Raúl Cañibano Mee-Lai Stone (The Guardian) highlights the work of Cuban photographer Raúl Cañibano, who “worked as a welder before beginning a photographic journey he describes as ‘somehow surrealist.’” A series of his early and recent work
