These photographs were taken many years ago during an extensive project that lasted over a year. I am posting them now, at a time when Havana is experiencing a particularly challenging period.
The word ‘Inlandsis’ is used to describe Antarctica and Greenland, and literally
means ‘inland ice sheet’. This is nothing like the warm, often sweltering
Caribbean islands. However, Havana is a city that takes
on a completely different appearance depending
on whether you explore it along the
coastline or through its inner streets.
The former are familiar to
international tourists thanks
to images that have spread around
the world via books and films. The latter
are much less travelled, except by the
inhabitants, who face the difficult challenge
of navigating this great twentieth-century city’s old thoroughfares.
The ancient calzadas are the umbilical cords that historically linked the old town to the countryside. However, behind the long colonnades that now line them, the sugar cane fields have been replaced by the city. The Havana of the Malecón and the old town is just one facet of this metropolis, and perhaps not the most authentic one. It is hard to get lost along the seafront, but the inland areas offer this welcome opportunity.
I owe much of what I have learnt about Havana to Sergio Baroni, who passed away in 2001. I would like to dedicate these photographs to him.
