The Cuba Archive is a solo exhibition showcasing photographs by New York-based photographer Tria Giovan. The exhibition is produced and presented in conjunction with the 2022 FotoFest Biennial Participating Spaces program. The Cuba Archive is a collection of photographs that captures Cuba on the brink of societal change in the 1990s. By immersing herself in Cuba’s history, literature and politics, Giovan created a compelling body of work that captured the subtleties and layered complexities of day-to-day life in Cuba. This collection is a historical record that portrays the spirit and integrity of a distinctive, resilient and complex country and its people.
The FotoFest Biennial 2022 exhibition will examine the fundamental role of images in the construction of global social movements and political ideologies. Specifically, the exhibition focuses on the ways contemporary image-production both reflects and informs our perception of the world, historical narratives, and our agency to engage in cultural discourse. The project features a diverse range of image-based practices: from activists and photo-documentarians whose practices shed light on systemic violence, to artists and filmmakers who adopt the tools and language of surveillance, social media, and tech-culture to expose image capture’s potential to support progressive movements as well as its ability to oppress marginalized and at-risk populations.
This year’s FotoFest Biennial is scheduled to take place September 24 – November 6, 2022. FotoFest’s central exhibition, lectures, and film programs for the FotoFest Biennial 2022 will focus on the ways contemporary image production and circulation informs and reflects global social, political, and cultural issues and movements. The exhibition will feature artists, photographers, and activists from around the globe who examine various modes of image-making, from social media and computer-generated renderings to news media and surveillance technologies, as a way to examine the formation of historical narratives, political ideology, and social agency. A wide range of photographic and moving image media will be included.
Tria Giovan first picked up a camera at age eight, while growing up in the Virgin Islands. A New York City photographer for more than 25 years, she has successfully pursued both commercial shooting and personal long-term projects, creating a diverse, exciting, and prolific career. Tria’s personal work has been defined by comprehensive, timely, and in-depth subject exploration, culminating in three monographs of her work. Cuba The Elusive Island, published by Harry N. Abrams in 1996 brought together 100 images along with a selection of writings by some of Cuba’s most important writers. In 2012 Damiani published Sand Sea Sky: The Beaches of Sagaponack. The 63 images selected from a 10,000-image project reveal the complex visual embodiment of the artist’s decade-long meditations on nature’s transient fragility. In October 2017, Damiani published The Cuba Archive, a selection of 125 images from the 25,000 taken during 12 one-month trips from 1990-1996. Photographs from the series, as well as work commissioned by the Annenberg, were featured in Cuba Is (2017-18), at the Annenberg Space for Photography. Her work has shown in New York City, Athens, Greece, Paris, France, Hyderabad, India, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, California, Chicago, Illinois, and Havana, Cuba, and is in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The Brooklyn Museum, The Parrish Art Museum, The Jewish Museum, and The NY Public Library, all in New York.