exhibition JEAN-MICHEL ANDRÉ EXILES

They had managed to escape the poverty and arbitrariness that reigned over the island, and were aware of their luck. None of them said they had any regrets. But at times, nostalgia got the better of them. Then they would speak to me about the family and friends they would never see again. In the measured way of those who do not want to unearth buried pain. They would also tell me about the Cuban street: its indecency, its laughter and games…

Once there, I witnessed these very scenes I had been told about. But more than the noisy, colourful atmosphere, it was the ghostly aspect of the towns that struck me. Populated by Cubans dreaming of another hypothetical place, Havana and Santiago are also inhabited by the presences of those who left one day and can never return. What I present here is an exploration of exile, temptation and pain experienced by all peoples. I create urban photographic ‘superimpositions’ using the backdrop of the streets of Havana and Santiago and placing passing characters within them, who move across the walls and in turn become part of this infinitely rich urban landscape.”

Jean-Michel André