작품 상세

Chromogenic print 50 x 76 cm (20 x 30 in) Signed, titled, dated and numbered by the photographer in ink on the reverse, edition no. 2/10 PROVENANCE directly from the photographer LITERATURE Alex Webb/Rebecca Norris Webb, Violet Isle, Santa Fee 2009. "In Spanish, the word 'esperando' means both 'waiting' and 'hoping', a layered meaning that starts to get at the feel of the Cuba I've photographed since 1993. But what are the Cuban people waiting and hoping for? What lies ahead for this complicated and vibrant island?" Alex Webb places this self-quote at the beginning of the book Violet Isle, which contains photographs by Rebecca Norris Webb and himself. The pictures were taken on their eleven journeys to Cuba between 1993 and 2008. The questions formulated in the quotation mark the point of departure for Webb's intense exploration of Cuba - at the same time, they capture the atmosphere of the present image perfectly. The photographer's view into a mirror - a device Webb employs happily and frequently - opens up a room to us in which a girl and a young man lean against a bar. The two upholstered chairs on either side of the mirror, the wooden table and the scuffed marble floor are reminiscent of times past. Both people are resting their chins in their hands and looking in the same direction. The observer does not find out what they are looking at. What or whom are they waiting for? What do they hope for? The intensive and vivid colour of the image, typical for the Magnum photographer, stands in contrast to the questioning looks of the protagonists. They might be thinking of the uncertain future of a country that oscillates between vivaciousness and poverty, between glamour and dissolution, and that may soon cease to exist in its current form.