Seder's feast

Photographs from a forbidden Cuba

by Leon Nigrosh

SI POR CUBA: NEW PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARI SEDER At the ARTSWorcester Gallery
at Quinsigamond Community College, 670 West Boylston Street, through October 29.

Since 1959, when Fidel Castro took control of Cuba, much of the world has turned its back on this once-thriving country. For nearly four decades the US-led embargo, coupled with severe travel limitations to this island 90 miles off the Florida coast, has been in effect in an attempt to bring down Castro and his Communist regime. With this political attitude prevailing, we are indeed fortunate to witness the people and architecture of current-day Cuba through Mari Seder's brilliant Cibachrome photographs.

The 29 images now on display in the ARTSWorcester Gallery at QCC are gems from pictures Seder took during her special visit to Cuba in May. An accomplished street photographer, Seder is adept at catching the light on a building, bringing out its architectural charms. She also has the capacity to bring out the best in her human subjects. But unlike her previous work done in the US and other prosperous democracies, these images go beyond the artistic and begin to tell of the physical, psychological, and social strain undergone by Cuban people and their surroundings.

In Yellow Building with Arches, we can see the finely sculpted architectural flourishes that still adorn this crumbling edifice. The opulence of Art Deco and Art Nouveau were the keystones to the architectural renaissance prior to the fall of the Batista government. Because of building-material shortages, little can be done to restore the building's original beauty. Yet, in another part of town, we visit Pink Building on Corner, a rather nondescript structure, but gaily painted in two brilliant shades of pink. Most of the buildings, like the Cubans themselves, are doing their best to maintain their dignity and spirit.

This enduring spirit emanates from the Man with Yellow Shoes as he is about to leap into the doorway of a chipped pink-and-blue building. In Student by Blue Door, a small boy dressed in a school uniform peeks out from the same decrepit doorway. In both cases, the pictures were chosen as the most descriptive and animated of several similar shots Seder had taken in the series. Because she frames all her images using a normal lens, she needs to get close to her subject. And in the majority of her encounters, the people were more than willing to let her. The grizzled old-timer in Man with Beret and Cigarette stood patiently in front of one of the many painted murals throughout Cuba -- except in this particular painting, he had been immortalized by the artists.

These photos, while they may depict a culture struggling to survive, are not without humor. In Man and Light Green Car, we watch as a mechanic is about to be swallowed up into the engine room of a 1950 Plymouth. And because she is such a hard worker, the lady in Sweeper with Pink Gloves and Cigar has been rewarded with the biggest, fattest stogie you've ever seen.

Radiant pictures capture the smiles of two young boys, the joy of an elderly guitar player as he regales his audience, and a simple street transaction involving sunflowers. One of the most riveting images in this collection is Man and Four Fish. Here, Seder has opted for the artistic and cut the man off at the waist to draw our attention to the fresh red snappers shimmering in the sunlight. In all, Seder's photographs present us with images of a forbidden, and therefore mysterious, nation -- which turns out to be populated by people trying to make a life for themselves, just like us.

The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Call 755-5142.