Calle Ocho, Miami

In the summer of 1978, as a young teenager, I explored Calle Ocho in Miami with my first 35mm camera and created my first documentary attempt at street photography in an effort to understand the “Cubanization” of areas in Miami, that my family was very much a part of as Cuban immigrants. I returned to this project in 2023. This new work aims to investigate themes of memory, time, immigration and migration from a personal perspective. The work at this point, is taking the form of digital prints that coexist with transfer images from the 1978 negatives, which are scanned and printed with transfer medium on to cotton fiber-based papers. The images provide a sampling of the images made in February of this year. “Little Havana”, Calle Ocho’s more commercialized name, has itself migrated, changed and exploited the Cuban image. In many ways it is no longer completely Cuban. Many of the families that came to America to escape the horrific Castro regime, came to start a new life, work hard, and as such, with the drive for freedom, most succeeded and moved on. Though the area still hosts a few Cuban owned businesses, the authenticity of its early beginnings has been lost to the commercialization of an “idea”. This at least, is my first response to the experience of being there in 2023. As I examine the images and hopefully, revisit the area a few times within the next couple of years, I hope to discover more. My initial intention is to explore the streets, places and neighborhood s