2009. Networks of Confidences.

Networks of Confidences was a project I began with little expectation while living in Cuba. However, over time, it grew and became increasingly complex.

The series began with the intention of creating a photographic memory of my network of friends and family in their homes—a visual record of that time. I had the idea to ask each person to remove their shoes before being photographed, as a symbolic gesture of their acceptance and willingness to take part in the project.

As I started taking the first portraits, I began to notice marked inequalities among them: some homes were more modest, some individuals less physically attractive than others. These contrasts began to highlight differences I had no interest in emphasizing. That’s when I made a creative decision—to visually equalize everyone.

I chose to crop each photo just above the ankles and place that cropped section above the subject’s head in the final image. In this way, everyone would be represented uniformly, eliminating visible differences and instead emphasizing the intimacy of the shared gesture.

What began as a simple photographic record gradually evolved into a portrait of an entire society. I’m referring to the period between 2007 and 2009 in Cuba, the years during which I made these portraits. Once I had a significant number of images, I decided to display them by forming the word REDES (Networks) using 100 small-format photographs (5×7 inches), arranged on a wall to spell out the word. That was how the project was first exhibited in Cuba.

Over time, I felt the need to give the project a new physical and conceptual structure. I renamed it 100 Cuban Family Portraits and re-exhibited it in Miami in 2019. In this version, the 100 portraits were placed side by side, forming a line over 10 meters long. As viewers approach, the essence and intimacy of the project gradually reveal themselves.

This is a project I feel I still haven’t quite finished. I carry a sense of unresolved debt toward it. And yet, it has become a powerful vessel of memory for those portrayed. Many of them are no longer physically present, but they live—and will forever live—within Networks of Confidences.

Here I present a selection of the 100 portraits that make up the project today.