EXPO PHOTO Mi Habana Imaginada

THE PROECT IN 2 WORDS Physical travel to destinations beyond the ocean is very limited or challenging at the moment, but traveling through my photographs of Cuba is quite possible, safe and close! An experience that I would love to share with you. From September 16 to October 15 2021, you can visit my home town and meet my family, not in Cuba but in Marseille! Elizabet Castillo A trip to Havana, an Imagined Havana. An EXHIBITION of my photographic reportages made between 2014 and 2020 in Cuba. Invited by the Cultural Association L'Arca delle Lingue , the exhibition is hosted in its spaces in Marseille. The exhibition is organized in 4 different rooms, with a total of 34 photographs made between 2014 and 2020. 4 distinct stories and yet all connected to each other: 1. In a Corner of Havana 2. Home (Cojimar, the village that inspired Ernnest Hemingway’s novel “The Old Man and the Sea”) 3. Family Portraits 4. After Irma TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT, THE COUNTERPARTS AND ROLE OF CONTRIBUTORS, PLEASE SCROLL DOWN ORIGINS OF THE PROJECT 📷 After seeing my photographic work, the association L'Arca delle Lingue invited me to make the Havana exhibition as part of the Mea Cuba Festival, which would have taken place in October 2020 in Marseille. As a multicultural artist and Cuban, I share the same values as the association and I am very happy that they chose me as one of the artists of this cultural event. The annual event Mea Cuba is a festival that aims to promote, disseminate and celebrate Cuban culture, through contemporary and updated issues, on the fringe of stereotypes and thematic overexploitation. The Arca delle Lingue is dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of Romance "language-cultures". Their field of action embraces two activities: the teaching of foreign languages on the one hand, and cultural events and actions on the other, starting from the consideration that both the learning and the teaching of a foreign language imply an immersion in another culture. L'Arca delle Lingue 📷 In 2020, after months of preparation, it was very hard for me to know that the festival and the exhibition would no longer take place because of the COVID crisis! Unfortunately, this year again the festival fell victim to the virus and would not take place either. Hoping for better days and to celebrate the 10th anniversary of L'Arca delle Lingue next September, the association invited me again to exhibit my photos in its spaces. So I have given myself the mission to put together this long awaited photo exhibition with the title "Mi Habana Imaginada" which, with your help, will take place in September 2021. It has been more than 15 months since I last visit Cuba due to COVID. 15 months I haven’t see my parents and my home town. This makes this PHOTO EXHIBITION especially important for me. Going back over and over again by looking at the photos that I’ve made between 2014 and 2020, remembering the laughter of my mom and the noise of the Streets of Havana, seeing my family… a touch of Nostalgia. Elizabet Castillo TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT, THE COUNTERPARTS AND ROLE OF CONTRIBUTORS, PLEASE SCROLL DOWN THE PROJECT IN DETAIL From September 16 to October 16, I am pleased to welcome the public in the spaces of the Association L'Arca delle Lingue to discover my temporary photographic exhibition. Photographs made in Havana, Cojimar my hometown, and of my family. Where? 1 rue du docteur Jean Fiolle 13006 Marseille I will bring you to places, moments and people I have a relation with. You will see Habana through the eyes of a native and my work as an artist. Elizabet Castillo The Photo Exhibition is organized in 4 different rooms, with a total of 34 photographs made between 2014 and 2020. 4 distinct stories and yet all connected: 1. IN A CORNER OF HABANA Exhibited in December 2019 in Space NIKAU in La Ciotat, Photo Reportage between 2014 - 2018 More than 14 years have passed since I left my beloved Habana, my family, my culture and my native language! I go back there every year where I enjoy walking in its streets. Unfortunately, I find them more and more degraded, mistreated by the passage of time, destroyed by the lack of resources of its inhabitants and the indifference of the government. This mistreatment is only a reflection of the neglection of its inhabitants and their lack of concern. Except for the children, where one can still see hope shining in their eyes! They are our future! 📷 2. HOME Photo Reportage between 2014 – 2020 Most of my childhood memories are here in this small fishing village east of Havana. This is my Home. The village that certainly inspired Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Old Man and the Sea” I remember my school work for history class, afternoons in the library of my grandfather the historian, researching his essays and writings on the village. The school bus stop, the black sandy beach where I used to swim, the pier where I spent my weekends during my teenage years, the little park of Marti where the marlin fishing fair was held. Each place evokes a memory beyond a tear or a smile and sometimes even fear. 📷 3. FAMILY PORTRAT Photo Reportage 2014 - 2020 The place is Cuba, the people my family and neighbors. A serie of photos that could have been taken from a family photo book, yet they are not the classical Family photos.The photos show seemingly ordinary moments for my family interacting with each other and even with me, yet they are fleeting experiences that quickly accumulate over a lifetime. 📷 Photo Finalist at Estée Lauder Pink Ribbon Photo Award "Rresilience" 2020 Exposée a Paris at the Square de la Tour Saint-Jacques in February 2021 4. AFTER IRMA Photo Reportage 2017 In September 2017, Hurricane Irma devastated the Caribbean. It was a powerful and catastrophic Category 5 hurricane. Irma caused widespread and catastrophic damage. These photos were taken after the hurricane hit the town where I grew up and where my parents still live: Cojimar. I was very sorrowful to see so much destruction, it hurt me so much. There was no loss of life in Cojimar, but many people lost their homes and all their belongings. My mother led me to these people, telling me about their tragedy with tears in her eyes. 📷 ABOUT ME ELIZABET CASTILLO Photographer, Multicultural and Polyglot 📷 Born in Moscow in 1982 to Cuban parents, I spent the first two years of my life at the Lomonosov State University, before moving to Cuba with my mother. Since my childhood, I showed a talent and interest in art in general, my mother enrolled me in drawing, painting and flamenco classes. From a very young age, my life path has been influenced by different cultures, people and languages. This undoubtedly influenced my photography style and is, for sure, the reason why I decided to become a photographer. In 2007, after finished my studies of Geography, I moved to Germany, where I discovered photography by chance and enrolled in the Photo Academy of Cologne. Photography became an instrument to express the distance, absence and nostalgia of my culture. I develop a fascination for photojournalism and family portraits. Settled in the south of France with my husband since 2018, I devote herself entirely to photography.