" Pasaron las fotos de la misa, más bien malas por errores de exposición, los niños en cambio jugaban a plena luz y dientes tan blancos. Apretaba sin ganas el botón de cambio, me hubiera quedado tanto rato mirando cada foto pegajosa de recuerdo, pequeño mundo frágil de Solentiname rodeado de agua y de esbirros como estaba rodeado el muchacho que miré sin comprender, yo había apretado el botón y el muchacho estaba ahí en un segundo plano clarísimo, una cara ancha y lisa como llena de incrédula sorpresa mientras su cuerpo se vencía hacia adelante, el agujero nítido en mitad de la frente, la pistola del oficial marcando todavía la trayectoria de la bala, los otros a los lados con las metralletas, un fondo confuso de casas y de árboles." 

Parte de "Apocalipsis de Solentiname"

San José, La Habana, abril de 1976

De Alguien que anda por ahí

Cortázar, Julio; Cuentos completos 2, Buenos Aires, Alfaguara, 1996

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This body of work is a personal journey into Julio Cortázar's short story "Apocalypse at Solentiname" written in 1976. The story is an account of a visit that Cortázar paid to the poet priest Ernesto Cardenal while he was living in the archipelago of remote islands in Nicaragua.

Cortázar was so enthralled by the people's paintings of the island that he took photographs of them to view back home. In the comfort zone of his home the photographs of folk paintings turned into hallucinations of terror, torture and pain. Scenes of the repressive governments of Latin America of that time.

Throughout my travels in Latin America this story kept on playing back in my memory. I began to see it as a commentary on tourism, on traveling and taking the culture without first understanding it's history, and context of the people living there.

The inspiration to visually translate Cortázar's account came from photographs I had already taken in South America that as a beautiful mistake had already turned out out double exposed.  In order to complete the visual language, in June of 2004 I traveled to where the story took place, and this story became my life.

In Nicaragua I found my three characters: Ernesto Cardenal as a representation of the past, Jess and her present struggles while taking care of Nicaraguan street kids, and Meyling my guide from Solentiname, the mystery of our connection, like an unknown future.

The painters of Solentiname have depicted the world not as it is but how it should be. My photographs are also about a hope for a better future. Over the years Solentiname has now become much more than just the community from a Cortázar story. My connections there continue to grow and expand into its own story of time and change.