Through a Cuban Lens: Storytelling and Surrealism in the work of Raúl Cañibano

For three decades, black-and-white photographs by Raúl Cañibano (b. Havana, 1961) have documented Cubans’ daily lives against a backdrop of severe economic hardship. Making connections across visual culture, this article explores the relationship between Cañibano’s photography and Havana as a modernist city, focusing predominantly on his ongoing series “Ciudad” (City). Informed by interviews and recent fieldwork carried out in Havana, it reflects on how socio-historical and -political elements have shaped his way of seeing. Furthermore, it examines how intensely realised images depicting the collision of tradition and modernity and the metaphysical city manage to tell stories about Cuban culture and identity. In turn, this article reveals how Cañibano’s use of varied photographic techniques allows him to create alternative views of urban landscapes in which complex spatialities and temporalities converge, inviting multidimensional readings.