51 Families: 51 years

In 2007 I was given two libretas and challenged to make a book. I understood the Cuban State subsidized food programs but had no idea how the system worked in daily life. Quickly reading them I discovered each libreta records one year of supplies such as bread, meat, beans and even tobacco for a household.

Every libreta is very personal. Bound together as whole, I am in a small way the trustee of each family’s story.

The 52 libreta is an essay by the Cuban ethnographer Abel Sierra.

Poder: 2010

PODER: A collaboration with Cuban Artists.

Poder: Power, the first book in the series, was completed in April 2010. Privacidad: Privacy was fabricated in April 2011 and  the third book, Esperando: Waiting, is to be completed in 2012.

Power rules…We are born and are powerful because in our relationships and connections, communication and contacts, we exercise that special force/energy (Power) with which all of us without exception come into this world. Yamilys Brito Jorge

Privacidad: 2011

Privacidad is the second book in the trilogy. Miles and miles in Peso taxis hunting for supplies, hours of meetings, and waiting, always an art form in Cuba. In our the last meeting we bound twenty books in seven hours!

I am humbled by this project and can only offer the deepest of thanks to all the artists.