Yuma

James Clifford Kent has photographed Cuba for more than two decades, capturing resilience, endurance and survival in an increasingly threadbare Revolution. His journey began in the early 2000s when living in the Caribbean’s largest island and working at the Universidad de La Habana. During his time in the quiet town of Cabaiguán, a local family affectionately nicknamed him "Yuma" and embraced him as one of their own.

Kent’s work documents the resilience and endurance of the Cuban people, from bustling Havana to rural villages. It reveals a shifting narrative from hope, which peaked during the US-Cuban thaw and restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries under late Obama (2015–2017), to hopelessness under a reinforced US trade blockade, Soviet-era economic central planning, and a renewed spike in mass migration. Recently losing Venezuela as its foremost foreign partner, preceded by the end of USSR and Soviet Bloc assistance when the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989, has left the island with failing infrastructure and frequent apagones (power cuts).

Professor Anamik Saha from the University of Leeds interviews the photographer. They discuss the complexities of cultural immersion, the ethical considerations involved in documenting marginalised communities, and the evolving narrative of Cuban resilience.