Mick Hartley

Cuban photographer Raúl Cañibano with Human Landscapes, on show downstairs in Print Sales at the Photographers Gallery:

Showcasing images taken over three decades, this exhibition celebrates Cañibano’s profound love for his native Cuba.

Raised in post-revolutionary Cuba and initially a welder by trade, Cañibano's photographic journey began in 1984. Self-taught, and inspired by the art books at Cuba’s National Library, Cañibano soon developed his own style, which he calls “somehow surrealist.” This surrealist sensibility is most evident in his playful use of scale, often contrasting uncannily close-up subjects with distant figures to evoke mysterious affinities and tensions. Everyday scenes take on poetic and mystical qualities tinged with a political edge.

[Photos © Raúl Cañibano]