Cristina Piza
Son de la Habana

Exhibition:
May 26 to June 24, 2001
(photogalerie 94)

Opening:
Saturday, May 26, 2001, 6pm
Introduction by Sascha Laue

Finissage:
Sunday, June 24, 2001, 2 - 5pm

Son de la Habana
There are portrait photographs that demand the viewer's awe of the modeled
personality or of the artist's masterful use of light and shadow, and others that allow the viewer to breathe a sigh of relief. They are unknown people in their everyday surroundings, which the photographer seems to know very well. She does not argue for or against anything. Her pictures prove nothing, except that even in the poorest conditions, people still love and marry, music brings smiles to their faces, and every day holds a little, brief hope.
Cristina Piza's photo series aims to capture the "Son de la Habana," the song of the Cuban capital that buzzes through the air. Born in Costa Rica in 1963 and raised in Mexico, the artist did not just quickly roam the streets and alleys of Havana, but has mingled with the inhabitants several times for extended periods since 1993. © Cristina PizaShe was not interested in major political events, but rather in women sitting around a table in a communal apartment, men gathered in a barber shop or around a shoe shiner, the young mulatto casually yet passionately embracing his fair-skinned lover, or the boys enjoying the waves and sun by the sea. And, of course, the musicians who bring the rumba of yesteryear back to life in the Buena Vista Social Club—Cristina Piza discovered them with her camera even before Wim Wenders, whose film helped the old men achieve fame. As she is still young, albeit quite successful, as evidenced by the long list of her exhibitions in America and Europe, she tries out a lot of things: a charming still life of two women's feet wearing different shoes, boys' bodies in backlight, or the amorous gaze at the seductive legs of a young lady in a miniskirt. She is not indifferent to the passions of the city, but for now she keeps its suffering at bay. However, she is by no means gone forever. In Havana, but also in Naples—Italy is her second home—Cristina Piza pursues wide-ranging photography projects.