Vivir con...

Italian photographer Carolina Sandretto inspects trhough portaits the Cuban society and its transformation, reflected on the Solar – smaller spaces with no privacy – on view in Milan.

Despite the beginning of negotiations, after the end of the American embargo, it will take a long time before the living conditions of Cuban population register a significant improvement.

The regime always provided education and food, but young people never left their native homes both because they were not allowed to emigrate and because they didn’t have the means to afford a home of their own. This situation is the origin of Solar: originally one-family homes that were later divided into smaller apartments, becoming entities hosting up to 30 families. Families are thus forced to live together in smaller spaces with no privacy and the coexistence of old and new generations gives origin to a physical and mental space.

Portraits are taken with a medium format camera and they particularly focus on people, on their memories and affections and on their attempt to maintain a decent lifestyle, more than on the material conditions. Their houses look rather chaotic, but this is only due to the limited space available and to the improvised furniture: despite the peeling plasters, they appear clean and tidy as far as possible, decorated with paintings on the walls and flowers, even fake ones, that cheer up the environment.

The solo exhibition of Carolina Sandretto at Galleria Bianconi in Milan shows an unknown selection from her project Vivir con… and Hopes for the future, a series of video-interviews filmed in the isle of Cuba.

Carolina Sandretto, Vivir con..., Casa Garaje

Carolina Sandretto, Vivir con..., Doraida y Berta

Carolina Sandretto, Vivir con..., La Lettrice

Carolina Sandretto, Vivir con..., Casa de Berta

Carolina Sandretto, Vivir con..., Casa de Rosa

Carolina Sandretto, Vivir con..., Casa de Juribel

Carolina Sandretto, Vivir con..., Luis

Carolina Sandretto, Vivir con..., Maria

Carolina Sandretto, Vivir con..., Casa de Rosa

Carolina Sandretto, Vivir con..., Reflection de Rodolfo

Carolina Sandretto, Vivir con..., Andres

Carolina Sandretto, Vivir con..., Rita

Carolina Sandretto is an Italian photographer based in New York. Her work as a photo-journalist is a social analysis of how people live and interact with the environment surrounding them. Her analysis often focuses on marginal or destitute situations or social classes, from Mexican orphans to Burmese monks, turning to Italian emigrants in New York who landed there in the past or during the recent “brain drain”, with the objective of awakening a social awareness and favouring a change.

until October 30, 2015
Carolina Sandretto
Vivir con..
curated by Laura Cherubini
Galleria Bianconi
via Lecco 20, Milano

Vivir con...

Italian photographer Carolina Sandretto inspects trhough portaits the Cuban society and its transformation, reflected on the Solar – smaller spaces with no privacy – on view in Milan.

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