Five journeys to Cuba, with missions covering thousands of kilometers, became a complete tour of an island full of contrasts and intensity. With only a map in hand and often no clear idea of the destination, the road led us to villages, cities, and landscapes that revealed a different face of the country each time.
The photographs move between color and black and white. In a place so full of light and life, the choice is never easy: to let the colors burst through or to preserve the austerity of contrasts. The frames captured people, streets, and also tobacco in all its stages — from harvest and processing to the moment it became a cigar in the hands of those who smoked it.
We were not mere spectators. We smoked as well, drank mojitos and daiquiris in Havana, in the old town and at Hemingway’s haunt. We stood before Che Guevara’s memorial in Santa Clara, passed through the Bay of Pigs, and swam in the waters of the Caribbean. We made friends and listened to the famous Cuban music accompanying us along the way.
Cuba was never just a destination. It was experience, memory, and emotion — a country not only recorded through the lens, but carried within you forever.
