the aesthetic template within which artists work today. It
is in direct contrast with the documentary photography of
the first years of the Revolution that one should begin to
consider the contemporary, innovative use of photography
in post-Soviet Cuba.1
The 1960s witnessed the end of tourism, restrictions on
foreign travel for Cuban citizens, and the American embargo. By contrast, in the early 1990s the borders suddenly
became permeable. Immediately following the fall of the
Berlin Wall in 1989, and upon losing Soviet subsidies
and its Eastern European trade partners, Cuba entered
an acute state of crisis that became known as The Special
Period in Times of Peace. The government tried to attract
much-needed revenue by resorting once again to tourism,
which meant exposing a fairly isolated population to a
sudden influx of foreign visitors. Notably, tourism brought
the resurgence of prostitution, a pre-revolutionary social
problem that had been eradicated. The new phenomenon,
called jineterismo, was an informal practice that resembled
dating: young Cuban women of color, often with university
degrees, would go out with tourists for the duration of their
trip, and show them around town. In exchange for their
extended company, jineteras received imported gifts, hard
currency, and perhaps marriage proposals that would allow
them to leave a country then in the grips of a 6WfW&RV6