Leonada Gelato Machena, in her one-room apartment. Cienfuegos, Cuba
Moria Antonia Gomez’s one-room apartment. Cienfuegos, Cuba
Tereza Boniza in her home. Cienfuegos, Cuba. On the wall (left) is a picture of her mother when she was young
Colorful objects pasted on a wall in a one-room apartment. Cienfuegos, Cuba
Delphine Fernandez, in his small hut, surrounded by images of Lenin and studies of Marx. Cienfuegos, Cuba
Havinyo Agiar’s image reflected through a broken mirror in his one-room apartment. Cienfuegos, Cuba
Ilama Bural Morachon with a broken arm in her apartment. Cienfuegos, Cuba
Kitchen / Bedroom. Cienfuegos, Cuba
Onelia Katyo, watching the street through her apartment’s door. Anyone passing by Onelia’s door is her potential friend: a passing neighbor, children on their way to the nearby school, or even a stray cat. Cienfuegos, Cuba
An empty bed of a deceased tenant. Cienfuegos, Cuba
A woman is walking down the hall of an apartment complex. Cienfuegos, Cuba.
THE VOID WE LEAVE
A chance encounter led me to meet the members of an aging community living in a crumbling apartment complex in the town of Cienfuegos, Cuba. Although approximately sixty years of age separated between us, we bonded almost immediately. I returned to visit them a few times per year since.
On my subsequent visits, I returned to find apartments turning empty. The tenant left the world, leaving a few personal objects behind and the void between the walls. Those walls witnessed so much: relationships and birthdays, joy and sadness. Now, they stand in their solitude.
Soon, the government will lodge a new tenant in the apartment and walls will be painted again, until they too will become another layer of paint on the wall.
