Art and Identity
Other ways of looking at Venus through the lens
Yusimí Rodríguez Journalist Havana, Cuba
A woman with mastectomy; an old lady with a white beard, holding a flower; a woman... or a man? smoking a pipe. These are just some of the people watching me from the work of Yanahara Mauri, a 32-year-old photographer who prefers to focus on nudity and gender issues. She has had two personal exhibitions: Spasms of Venus( 2011) and Open Doors( 2015), and has also participated in collective samples in Cuba and abroad. In 2010, she won awards in both the Photography Biennial of Havana and the First Festival of Small Format Photography. Her work is included in Cuban and foreign publications.
Chair of Art by Tania Bruguera Yanahara graduated in Art History, but " preferred to devote myself to the artistic work instead of criticism. Some friends and I went to the Chair of Art by Tania Bruguera, made up of workshops, visits by art critics, and lessons taught by artists who also talked about their works." In the X Havana Biennial( 2009), Bruguera gave her own gallery space to the students so that they can display their works. Yanahara presented the audiovisual Ithaca, which was exhibited later in Cuban and foreign festivals. She describes the Chair of Art as " a very rich space, which unfortunately disappeared." To learn why, she says, " you should interview Tania ". Her inception in artistic photography dated from 2009, but Yanahara had been previously taking pictures with a Zenit small camera. " They were rather documentary photos and some more personal. I had not taken them seriously. The Chair of Art helped me define what I wanted." Yanahara completed a photography workshop at the UNEAC. She confesses having improved her technique over time, but she does not consider herself as super good. " My highest priority is the concept. Perhaps I do not achieve a technically great picture, but if the message is well captured or I like the atmosphere, I show my picture ". It takes time to make a picture. " I consider the sketch very important, so that I don’ t have to improvise when the time comes. I try to analyze what edge I could show better. I do not like saturated images; I focus on one element for delivering a clear message, although I know that there may be multiple readings ".
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