“En la bahía de mi cerebro hay un recuerdo
de cuerpos negros, un salto jubiloso sobre
un cielo alegre que besó mi vida.”
R oger C aban
It is with a heavy hear t that we share the passin g o f th e w ell- res p ected ,
Puer to R ican photogr apher and founding member o f En F oc o, Roge r Ca ba n.
Caban will be remembered for his social wor k in El B ar r io, w h ich h e w as a p ro u d n ativ e o f .
He was a social wor ker for Casa M utua and Pathways to Ho u s in g . I n 1 9 9 3 , h e b ecam e a b o ard
member of Hope Community, Inc. and helped found the o rg an iz atio n ’s an n u al p o etry s eries ,
Poetas con Café, as well as the O rtiz-Wittenberg A rt Ga l l e r y. So y h ijo leg itim o d e el B arrio,
Caban would say fondly of his lifelong pas s io n o f El B arrio.
A self-taught photogr apher, Caban’s wor k have been p u b lis h ed in n u m ero u s an n u als
and publications. In the 1960s and ‘ 70s, Caban was par t o f a g ro u p o f y o u n g artis t- activ is ts
creating community-based cultur al organizations like En F oc o an d a w riters co llectiv e,
La Nueva Sangre. In collabor ation with playwr ight Dolores Prid a, h e p u b lis h ed a co llectio n
of poems and photogr aphs titled, IRT Prayer Book, w h ich led to a g allery exh ib itio n . I n
addition, Caban wor ked with var ious Puer to R ican institu tio n s in clu d in g th e Na t i on a l P u e r t o
Rican Forum and A SPIRA. He was a member of the Natio n al Ta sk F orc e on Hi spa n i c A r t s f o r
the National Endowment f or the A rts and a for mer chairm an o f th e S pe c i a l A r t s S e r vi c e s
Panel of the New York State Counci l on t h e A r t s.
2 Nueva Luz
v a a n
B a c k g r o u n d p h o t o g r a p h a n d t e x t R o g e N
r u C e a b
L I u P z o r t 3 r a i t
of Roger Caban by George Malave