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Campesino Cuba

Campesino Cuba

by Richard Sharum

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Photographer Richard Sharum travelled across Cuba to document the lives of isolated farmers, or ‘Campesinos,’ and their wider communities at a time of national transition. In 2015, Sharum began researching Campesino communities — the histories of these communities have formed the backbone of Cuba — and his resulting black and white photographs depict the intertwined relationship of people and the land they depend on.

More about this book

Over the course of several journeys between January 2016 and November 2019, Sharum travelled from the northern to the southern shorelines, across to the western provinces, and to the eastern villages deep in the Sierra Maestra region of Cuba to complete his project.

Sharum, as an American, had always been intrigued by Cuba — a country still severely restricted to it citizens and under a broad embargo put in place by the US government over sixty years ago. He had wanted to add his own testament to the visual representation of the island. In the beginning, his interest lay with investigating the migration of the young male agricultural workforce from rural communities — farming tobacco, coffee, sugarcane, cattle and marine harvests — to urban areas. Since the advent of the internet, rural districts have witnessed an exodus of young men in search of better financial opportunities, or to escape a life of back-breaking labour and general solitude. With Cuba in a near perpetual food shortage, the cascading effect from less agricultural labour has grim implications for future generations.

As Sharum travelled more within Cuba, he expanded and shifted the project to encompass the lives of all Campesinos he encountered in the communities, including the role of women and children, for whom he developed a great appreciation and respect. The book includes essays by Cuban historian Aldo Daniel Naranjo and writer Domingo Cuza Pedrera (who grew up as a Campesino), allowing their words to speak for their own experience and country.

Published September 2021
290 x 219 mm, 208 pages
106 duotone images
Hardback
ISBN 978-1-910401-62-0

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In the press

From the author

  • Richard Sharum is an editorial and documentary photographer based in Corning, New York. His work has been widely exhibited in the US and interntionally including in Brazil, Italy and Japan. Sharum’s photographs are held in permanent collections including that of Witliff Center for Documentary Studies at Texas State University. Sharum has been commissioned by The Meadows Foundation, Centers for Community Cooperation, Harvard Law School, Student Conservation Association, Children's Medical Center (Oncology) and the Children's Cancer Fund amongst others. His photographs have been published in LFI (Leica International), British Journal of Photography, LensCulture, The Atlantic, Texas Monthly, Publico, El Pais, The Observer, The New York Times, Lens Blog, B+W Photo Magazine, HUCK Magazine, Glasstire, PATRON and Creative Review amongst others. Recently, Sharum has appeared on A Photographic Life Podcast with Grant Scott, ATO/Bridging the Divide Podcast, and has contributed an essay to the Winter 2023 issue of Truth in Photography. Sharum is represented by The Hulett Collection, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

  • 'I was not interested in giving credence to expected topics such as renowned political figures, classic cars or the colourful streets of Havana. I was more interested in taking a long and detailed look at the most isolated population group and their position in Cuban history. For this I knew I had to get deep into the land where the blood meets the soil and spend years with those not easily seen. I wanted to see Cuban’s as they were and in a way which forbade any memory of what I had been told about them.'

    - Richard Sharum