In an interior, an ancient refrigerator is opened to reveal a cache of nearly half a dozen eggs, a modest treasure since they are strictly rationned. A trio of emaciated senior citizens wait patiently for coffee. An elderly female cigar factory worker smokes the biggest cigar you've ever seen in your life. A penitente bears a cross weighted down with stones in front of a wall with the painted slogan Vive Cuba. Men on the street offer their gaze and their bottle of cheap rum to the photographer.
Outlawed transvestites don makeup for a clandestine show.
The omnipresent portrait of Fidel sits next to a santeria altar with lit candles as a man suddenly peeks around the corner. Rainbow-hued children, without benefit of expensive toys, play together exuberantly in the streets, dive joyously into swimming holes, are adored and doted upon by their parents. Reality in Cuba is about extremes. The quality of life is raw, the push and pull of despair and joy, weakness and strength, take place in full view. Bazan has lived in Cuba since 1997, when he married his Afro-Cuban wife, Sissy, who recently gave birth to twin boys.