Visual

— Sign by Dan Burwood

Still Standing Series, 2006

This photograph comes from a longer series which approaches Cuba, how it is placed within edifices of ideology and imagination. When I lived there, in 1999-2000, I was struck by the normalisation of euphemism, the continuity of signs in language above the inconstancy of daily life. Words seemed 'other' to their meaning, to me as an outsider, whether they were used to reinforce the structures of Revolution, or to satirise or evade them. Text is presented in the images themselves as a reflection of this. When researching this project when I returned to Cuba  in May 2006, I decided to focus on the strong culture of repair and improvisation that pervades everyday life there. I also examined the many signs and places of disrepair to be found around the island.
The work is, of course, autobiographical. In mapping a return, it reflects upon the distortions and enhancements of photographs upon memory. It is also a record of identification and aspiration, attempting to weave together a making, a local agency, with grander movements in time.