Regla (Cuba)

<p> I am Nicola Lo Calzo. I work as a photographer on the concepts of <strong>identity</strong>, <strong>minority</strong> and <strong>counter-power.</strong></p> <p>  </p> <p> I take a close look at marginalized groups (by class, gender, sexual orientation or race), their strategies for survival and resistance.  My work has been published by The New Yorker, Le Monde, the Times, Internazionale and other international media outlets.  This project, for which we are soliciting your help, will be my fourth book after <u>Obia</u> (Kehrer), <u>Inside Niger</u> (Kehrer) and <u>Morgante</u> (Alinari).</p> <p>  </p> <p> For nearly five years now, I have been working on an on-going, long-term research project, <em>Cham,</em> documenting the multiple lineages and the various manifestations of the <strong>memories of colonial slavery</strong>, of the <strong>resistances</strong> to it, of its <strong>abolitions</strong>. I document these memories because they create life, because they irrigate our present with wisdom and knowledge of the other that is essential to us. This quest brought me to the West African coasts, to the outskirts of Port au Prince, through the Mornes of Guadeloupe, to the forgotten neighborhoods of New Orleans, to the banks of the Maroni River, to the periphery of Santiago de Cuba.</p> <p>  </p> <p> With <u>Regla</u>, I reveal <strong>a little-known reality of Cuba</strong>.  Through four different journeys between 2015 and 2016, I was able to tell the story and photograph the existence of <strong>spaces of freedom and resistance</strong> that are defined by the practices and relationships to the world of Afro-Cuban communities descendant from slaves and are embodied as much in secret societies and secular brotherhoods as in the young urban movement of <strong><em>raperos</em></strong>.</p> <p>  </p> <p> In Cuba, the word <u>regla</u> is charged with meaning. Above all, it is the name of the port city Regla, located at the periphery of Havana, one of the most important religious centers of the country.  Regla also refers to the three major Afro-Cuban religions: the <u>Regla de Ocha</u> (ie the Santeria), the <u>Regla del Palo</u> (ie the Palo World), and the <u>Regla Abakuà</u>.  Lastly, in Spanish, Regla means to rule, the precept, and by metonymy, the Cuban regime.</p> <p>  </p> <p> This <strong>crowd funding</strong> will be used to cover part of the book production costs.  Regla will be published by the <a href="https://www.kehrerverlag.com/en/?___from_store=de" target="_blank">Kehrer</a> publishing house, which specializes in the publishing of photographic books, in collaboration with <strong>l'Agence à Paris</strong> and the photographic agency <a href="http://luz.it/" target="_blank">Luz</a>, and the precious support of the <a href="http://www.buchetponsoye.org/" target="_blank">Buchet-Ponsoye Endowment Fund</a>.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="Livre_regla_cover-1486120957" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/390127/Livre_Regla_cover-1486120957.jpg"></p> <p> (Provisional Regla book cover)</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="Dsc_8208-1486374935" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/390847/DSC_8208-1486374935.jpg"></p> <p> (A photo of the photographer during his last trip to Cuba during the days of national mourning for the death of Fidel Castro)</p> <p>  </p> <p> <u>Regla</u> was exhibited in 2016 in France at the <strong>Festival</strong> <strong>Portrait(s)</strong> in Vichy, and in Cambodia at the Angkor Photo Festival.  An exhibition is being prepared in Bogota with the gallery, La Balsa Arte, as part of the Fotografica Bogota Biennale 2017.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="Regla_vichy_centreculturel_velry-larbeaud_01-1486635811" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/391962/REGLA_VICHY_CENTRECULTUREL_VELRY-LARBEAUD_01-1486635811.JPG"></p> <p> (Exhibition of Regla at the Festival Portraits in Vichy in 2016)</p> <p>  </p> <p> The book <strong>Regla</strong> is a continuation of the book <a href="https://www.kehrerverlag.com/en/nicola-lo-calzo-obia-978-3-86828-647-2?___from_store=de" target="_blank">Obia</a> (on the maroon communities in French Guyana and Surinam), with the objective of constituting a homogeneous collection of all the photographic works that are part of my on-going and long-term research project, <em>Cham</em>.  For this reason, the format of the book remains the same: 19x24cm.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The book is organized in <strong>two main parts</strong>, an iconographic section and a textual section, each printed on a different type and texture of paper.  The texts will be written by several authors, including <u>Nancy Morejon</u>, poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator of French and francophone poetry, who will bring their examination and point of view on the photographic subject as well as on my approach in order to further understand the societal questions raised in this work.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="Doppia_regla_libro-1486124088" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/390146/Doppia_Regla_libro-1486124088.jpg"></p> <p> (a double page of the book)</p> <p>  </p> <p> The photographic narrative develops as follows: the memory of Maroon culture, the <em><u>comparsas</u></em> of the <em>santiaguero</em> carnival, the secular brotherhoods <em><u>Cabildos de nation africana</u></em>, the families of <em><u>Santeria</u></em><u> and <em>Palo monte</em></u>, the <u>freemasonry</u>, the secret masculine society <em>Abakuà</em> and in finishing, the <u>hip hop</u> movement.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="Doppia_regla_libro_2-1486124662" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/390151/Doppia_Regla_libro_2-1486124662.jpg"></p> <p> (a double page of the book)</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="Img_1324-1486121420" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/390130/IMG_1324-1486121420.JPG"></p> <p> (Leandro showing the publication of Regla in Libération)</p> <p>  </p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="Internazionale_1661_regla-1-1486636283" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/391965/Internazionale_1661_Regla-1-1486636283.jpg"></p> <p> (Publication of Regla in the Italian magazine, Internazionale, 2016)</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="Msmithsonian_1610_regla-1-1486636300" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/391967/MSmithsonian_1610_Regla-1-1486636300.jpg"></p> <p> (Publication of Regla in the American magazine, Smithsonian, 2016)</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="Newyorker_localzo_cuba_bd-1486637133" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/391979/NewYorker_LoCalzo_Cuba_bd-1486637133.jpg"></p> <p> (Publication of Regla in the <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/vital-rituals-of-the-afro-cuban-underground" target="_blank">New Yorker</a>, 2016)</p> <p>  </p> <p>  Regla is supported by:</p> <p> <img alt="Logos_kisskissdef-1493362823" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/418149/logos_kisskissDEF-1493362823.jpg"></p>