Walker Evans photographed Havana in 1933. At the time, he was constructing a model for documentary photography that was based in careful and impartial observation. He did not see his work as political or himself as social advocate. He was an artist, mediating history through factual observation in carefully constructed photographs.

In the intervening years between Walker Evans’ trip and mine, much has happened in Cuba. To the rest of the world, especially those living in the United States, Cuba’s political history has been its most defining characteristic. Politics has been key in determining what is said about it, what is written, and, of course, how it is photographed.

I had an image of Evans walking the streets of Havana with his camera in 1933, trying to be truthful to whatever he encountered. Much has changed over sixty years, even truth, its nature, and how it is known in photographs. I wondered what it would be like to walk some of the same streets, not to re-photograph or update any of Evans’ historic images. I wanted to see if I could re-capture the spirit of how he photographed in my own documentary encounter with the place. TF