Navigating the Waves: Cuban Photography at MFAH

Navigating the Waves: Contemporary Cuban Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) examines how Cuban photographers have navigated artistic expression under a regime that claims to have eliminated racism and sexism. The exhibition spans from 1959 to the present, featuring works from the MFAH's Cuban photography collection, including the Madeleine P. Plonsker Collection acquired in 2022 and a recent donation of nearly 300 works by the family of Iván Cañas. Artists such as Juan Carlos Alom and René Peña challenge the revolutionary narrative through techniques like expired film and Afro-Cuban religious symbolism. Alom's series El libro oscuro (1990), created during the Special Period, uses expired film and X-ray chemicals to evoke the horrors of the Middle Passage and slavery. Peña's Ritos series references Afro-Cuban practices like Santería, using his own body to allude to ritual sacrifices. The exhibition also contextualizes these works with iconic revolutionary photography, such as Alberto Korda's Guerrillero heroico, and includes series like Iván Cañas's Los veteranos and Pedro Beruvide's Los centenarios, which speak to racial equality ideals. Curated by Malcolm Daniel and Raquel Carrera, the show continues Houston's tradition of supporting Cuban and Afro-Latino photography. It runs until August 3, 2025.