[Re]presenting Tarará began as a photographic essay and has expanded into a research project concerned with investigating the social and political factors in Cuba that led to the post-revolution transformation of Tarará, a small community in Habana del Este, located nineteen km east of central Havana. The project aims to reconstruct the architectural genealogy of Tarará and has developed from interviews and site visits that have uncovered details regarding the history, transformation, and contemporary condition of the residential enclave, which was built during the 1940s and 50s for upper-middle-class Cubans and later appropriated by the regime of Fidel Castro before falling into disrepair. I have been photographing the community for three years. Recently, on my fourth trip to Cuba, I held meetings with state architects and have begun to learn more about the story behind the photographic documentation I have captured. Still, more information needs to be gathered, and more interviews performed. The next phase of the project entails accessing the national archives to learn more about the policies that drove the transformation I have documented. Any grant funds awarded to me will be used for travel and research towards these ends. As an American, I need to hire a proxy to access the archives. Once I have the research, I plan to document it in a written article, a talk, and as part of an exhibition that will utilize the existing photography. Pratt Institute recently awarded me a modest seed grant, which I used for my last trip, and has been integral advancing the research.

 Following the Cuban Revolution, the program for Tarará evolved from a private residential community and yacht club, known for its picturesque seaside landscape, to a place dedicated to rest and repose for members of the communist party. Later, between the 1970s and the early-2000s, Tarará evolved further, with Castro directing building projects to accommodate a variety of social, political, and philanthropic programs. Schools, hospitals, cafeterias, restaurants, pools, and other large-scale structures capable of providing for recreation and entertainment activities meant for sizable national and international populations were realized. The augmentations forced dramatic change to the typological composition of the community that spread across less than one square mile. The changes exacerbated the existing anomalies in the original architecture comprising single-family homes, built in a variety of styles that signal the eclectic character of mid-century Cuban modernism and the residue of colonial interests.

Using architecture as a lens and photography and writing as media, [Re]presenting Tarará registers the confluence of disparate architectural typologies, and the passage of time, in a series of photographs that convey the present-day eerie and surrealistic qualities that are characteristic of the community. The images reveal a 30-foot tree sprouted from the roof of a former residence. Once a family home, the structure that forms the base of the tree now sits adjacent to an abandoned theater conceived in the tectonic language of Russian constructivism and decorated on the interior with graffiti. Appearing down the road from an International Style duplex is a mannered Spanish-colonial residence, empty, but for four feet of dead leaves that occupy its garage. And, amidst a variety of other scenes appears a compact hospital emergency vehicle, overtaken by ivy and backdropped by a dilapidated former clinic.

In November of 2011, the government of Raúl Castro freed the housing market from socialist policies. The decision was expected to have drastic effects and significantly alter the built fabric of Cuban communities and cities. Change, however, has been slow to take effect. Today, Tarará remains under the control of the State, which has plans for its revitalization. Coexistent with the State architects are independent, “free-radical” architects, who, in the face of changing housing market policies in Cuba, and with the hope of furthering their design sensibilities, envisage counter possibilities for restoring Tarará, among other urban and suburban regions. 

The historical narrative that I plan to continue researching is the backdrop for the photography, which conveys the present-day experience of being in situ at Tarará. The primary objective of the images is to represent the sublime beauty of the heterotopic condition borne from the social, political, and economic narrative of Havana. Secondarily, they register the urban planning challenges that Cuba faces as it looks to a new era for the built environment that is being driven by designers operating in a semi-free market where private, “free-radical” architects exist alongside those belonging to the State. 

 Implicit to this proposal is the recognition that humanistic conditions and values are at stake with any urban-scale transformation. Equality implicit is an understanding that awareness of the past is a way to move forward responsibly. While my project seeks to re-present Tarará, the uncovered lessons, particularly in today’s volatile climate such as we see in Hong Kong, are important at a global scale.

The project received a 2019 Seed Grant from Pratt Institute and before the pandemic, was to be presented at the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation, on April 17, 2020. Details Here.