Candela
Countryside, Cuba 2002
The word candela in Spanish has several meaning besides the common one of flame. This is especially true in Cuba where the word has several connotations in the slang used by the vast majority of people. If a child is candela it means that he’s naughty; if a woman is candela it means that she is hot. In our case it was used because of this latter meaning.
In fact, we decided to name the group Candela because one of the participants was constantly addressed on the streets of Havana in such a way. Needless to say, she was very pleased about that. It soon became a joke among the group to refer to Monica Paredes as Candela.
It has been a very nourishing experience to have the privilege of having to communicate with my students in three different languages more or less all at the same time. Sometimes nobody understood anybody, but in most case communication was flowing in a beautiful and creative way.
The group was formed by two lovely Peruvian girls – one of whom is the now famous Candela – a hard working professional from Costa Rica, two young photographers from my Sicilian homeland and three very motivated Americans.
I thought that the three languages thing was going to be a disaster, instead it turned the group into something very unique and special.
Under my guidance, each photographer took very personal pictures that reflected the different approaches and styles to their subjects. You can now see a sample of the strong work created by the two Monicas, Teresita, Martino, Salvatore, Frank, Elisabeth and Willard in the new students’ gallery on my web-page, and if you are really lucky also in the small elegantly designed booklet that the group has produced. A few people have this privilege. Keep it a secret. EB
