Projects

In 2006 towards the end of my BA in digital Media I decided to spend my semester abroad in Cuba. I brought a beautiful 80 year old Rolleiflex and a few medium format films with me, not knowing much about the camera nor being able to develop the negatives while there, I allowed myself to simply explore and observe, connect with people and learn about life in cuban communism. Having grown up myself in Romania which  was communist too at the time, this journey became significant for me to remember my past in some way.  The Project turned into a Book and a short film. 

Interview with the well-known Cuban writer Angel Santiesteban / 2006

Do you think socialism still is working?

Angel Santiesteban: Of course not. Socialism ceases to function the moment it loses its democratic character. No man is prepared to receive “the power.” After five years as the highest boss, one cannot avoid turning into a leader. The power is like the fruit

of the forbidden tree: having tasted it, it is impossible to live without it and there are no limits to obtaining it. Jose Marti, Cuba’s most knowledgeable man of all time, said that socialism is modern slavery. Socialism has not been able to eliminate the social and racial class differences. The moment there is a hospital for government, the quality of which is significantly better than the quality of a hospital intended for the people, you begin to accept the difference. A man cannot rule a country like his private finca.

Is it human nature to compare or that Needing to be better or more ambitious than others?

Angel Santiesteban: Although human nature may be mistaken, the motor of any society is ambition and the pursuit of one’s dreams. Without material and spiritual stimulation, the human being ceases to be. The difference among people should be based on their mental ability, their education and their perseverance and not on their ideals or their political affiliation.

Which is naturally the intention of man: the
best conditions for himself or for his company strive for?

Angel Santiesteban: I believe that both intentions coincide, after all the individual benefits from the prosperity of society, so indirectly he prefers it. However, it must be assumed that the person has their own personal interest, i.e. a realizable wish. The utopias are beautiful, but a society cannot rely on them. The material benefit that man receives from society is his bounty. By informing and rewarding him, society sustains its economy. Consequently, man pays for his realizable and unrealizable dreams with the wages he receives from society, and so we can continue thinking about our utopia. After all, as the late Cuban writer Onelio Jorge Cardoso would say, “Man is always doubly hungry, spiritual and material”. However, when you have one, the other is missing. The two complement each other. Obtaining both is difficult, maintaining balance is essential.