Honored to once again be invited to show some of my photographs at Fábrica de Arte Cubano in Havana, Cuba. The show is a celebration of animals and life on a delicate planet. The Art Factory is an historic and legendary venue for artists of all kinds. I’m proud to be part of it! Check out the gallery here but here are few images that are part of the show.
Survival International is a global movement for tribal peoples’ rights. They are the only organization that champions tribal peoples around the world. “We help them defend their lives, protect their lands and determine their own futures.” I’m proud to partner with them and to help with their 50th Anniversary Photo Auction. Below is the image which will be auctioned to benefit Survival.
The auction goes live on Thursday, February the 28th at 10EST and closes on March 14th. Here is a link directly to my auction page. Help me spread the word on social media for a good cause using the #paddle8 and #survival as well as @paddle8 and @survival on instagram. Thank you!
It was an exciting and fun night tonight at Fabrica De Arte Cubano (FAC) in Havana. My Omo Valley show is comprised of 22 large photographic prints on display as well as a screening of Omo Child: The River and the Bush the documentary I directed. The show will run from January 16th to February 24th.
I’m really incredibly honored to have this opportunity at FAC and I just want to thank everyone involved at FAC, the outstanding printer (who’s information I will try and get and put up!) we found in Havana and to all the crew who helped hang it! Most of all I would like to thank Alina Lomba and Daniel Torres who have helped me in more ways then I could possibly list here. Thank you for all that you do!
Exciting news! I will be having an exhibition of photographs from my book Omo Valley at the Fábrica de Arte Cubano in Havana. The show will be up on Janurary 16th to Feburary 24th 2019. Fabrica de Arte is incredible place that should be a must visit if you ever go to Havana. There is not a form of art they are not passionate about. This is from their website.
” Fábrica de Arte Cubano (FAC) It is a great laboratory for interdisciplinary creation that presents the best of contemporary art in Cuba, with a strong social and community focus. An old oil mill transformed into a general space that opens to the exchange between various art forms that coexist in the same building. FAC is an artistic project driven by the need to rescue, support and promote the work of artists from all branches of art: theater, music, dance, theater, visual arts, photography, fashion, graphic design and architecture. Through the art / artist integration promotes exchange and direct approach between the public and the creator a massive scale.”
I’m very excited and looking forward to the show. We think it will be 22 images and I spent the day working on the layout. In addition they will be screening the documentary I directed – Omo Child: The River and the Bush (available on DVD here) in the theater.
Some of the images made larger.
It is an incredible honor to be invited back to the the Grand Teatro de la Habana! This is the second time that I will have an exhibition in the Grand Teatro during the International Festival of Ballet
which runs from October 22nd to November 2nd. The previous exhibition, in 2016 was called Portrait of a Ballerina Swan and focused on Prima Ballerina Viengsay Valdes. Here is a link to the gallery if you would like to see the photographs. For this show I focused completely on what is going on “Behind the Curtain”. The scenes the audience never get to see. Here is a link to a gallery to see more of what is Behind the Curtain. 
I was very pleased and honored that my friend Cuban artist Manuel Mendive came to the opening.
I’m very proud to announce the opening of Nature, Spirit, and Body the collaborative exhibition between Afro-Cuban artist Manuel Mendive and myself at the Bronx Museum of Arts. Mendive has a cohesive group of paintings and sculptures on display along with 26 photographs from the photo shoot I did in February the previous year. It will be on display at the Bronx Museum of Art from July 25th to November 4th. I will also have a gallery of the images posted on the site so everyone can view the photographs that are displayed.
I would like to share some news and photos of my time collaborating with Afro-Cuban artist Manuel Mendive at his home “Casa Blanco” outside of Havana. Mendive uses many mediums including drawing, painting, body painting, wood carving, sculpture, and performance art, mainly dance and is considered by many to be Cuba’s most important living artist.
I first met Mendive while working at the Cuban National Ballet and had the opportunity to show him my book, Omo Valley. 
The idea for a collaboration was born wherein Mendive would paint the bodies of dancers and I would photograph them in the jungle around his home. The plan is to display the photographs along with Mendive’s sculptures and paintings at an upcoming exhibit at the Bronx Museum of Art. It was an incredible experience to work with such an important Cuban artist and I hope to be able to collaborate with him again in the future.
The opening of the show at the Gran Teatro de La Habana was an extraordinary experience. Hundreds of people attended. There were introductions and a few speeches before the exhibit opened.
Viegnsay Valdes and her family were there to support the exhibition and she was the star of the show.
Photos, TV News, journalists, autographs and many admirers. It was an amazing time for me. Never have I seen so many people enjoying my photography. It was was a special moment. Last night I was on the National news for Cuba being interviewed about the exhibit. In Cuba this is a big deal. For me to, it is an amazing experience.
Today it is back to work for everyone. I spent this morning photographing Viegnsay practicing for her perf
ormance next Tuesday. I look forward to photographing a lot of Ballet during the
next couple of weeks during the International Festival of Ballet.
I’m very excited to be in Havana preparing to hang an exhibition of photographs I took in the previous months of The Cuban National Ballet, specifically of Prima Ballerina Viengsay Valdés dancing Swan Lake. The exhibition will be in the magnificent Grand Teatro and will coincide with the 25th Festival Internacional de Ballet de la Habana – a world famous festival held every year in Havana celebrating the art of ballet. Pictured at left is Viengsay and myself reviewing images in preparation for the show. The festival (as well as the exhibition) runs from October 28th through November 6th.
Born in Havana, Viengsay Valdés moved at three months to Laos, where her father was the Cuban Ambassador. At age three, her family moved to the Seychelles. At six, she moved back to Havana, Cuba, where her grandmother continued her education.
Viengsay Valdés was born in Havana and she began her ballet training in the Elementary School of Ballet Alejo Carpentier in Havana and she finished at the National School of Art, receiving important awards, including the Gold Medal in the Festival of Dance in Vignale, Italy (1993) and in successive years: Mention, First Prize and the Grand Prix of Ballet in the youth competition sponsored by the Cuban Union of Artists and Writers (UNEAC). In July of 1994 Ms. Valdes graduated from the National School of Art with Diplomat of Dancer- Teacher and the Award Gold Title as best student and then immediately joined Ballet Nacional de Cuba. In 1996 she was promoted Principal Dancer and to Prima Ballerina in 2001.
Ms. Valdes has been awarded the Medal of Distinction of Culture (1999) and the distinguished Medal “Alejo Carpentier” (2003), as well as the Prize for her outstanding Female interpretation (2009) granted by the Cuban Union of Artists and Writers (UNEAC), the Medal Laureate Stamp granted by the National Union of the Culture (2011), Medal of Work for 20 years in the Ballet Nacional de Cuba; Medal “Raul Gomez Garcia” and Special Premium “Lorna Burdsall” for her highlighted career (2015), as well as on several occasions her name has been inscribed in the Book of Honor of the Grand Theater of Havana “Garcia Lorca” for her several outstanding performances..
With the Cuban company, she has performed in important theaters in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa and Australia. Her repertoire includes leading roles in works of the romantic-classical tradition as well as in contemporary works by Cuban and foreign choreographers. She is a true representative of the Cuban ballet school, which combines virtuosity, technique and artistic interpretation.
Ms. Valdes has been a guest artist in several companies around the world, such as the Royal Danish Ballet (Denmark) where she danced the role of Kitri (Don Quixote), in the Oporto Dance Center (Portugal), to The Washington Ballet debut of Marie Anne Holmes Don Quixote version (United States), the National Academy of Donetsk Full length Don Quixote Russian version (Ukraine). She performed “Giselle” with the Ankara Ballet (Turkey). in 2009, her debut at the Mariinsky Theater with the Kirov Ballet in the lead role of Quiteria next to Leonid Sarafanov and in 2011 she was invited for the leading role of Carmen in Carmen’s Suite for closing the XI International Mariinsky Festival in St. Petersburg. She participated in the Youth American Grand Prix Galas (YAGP) 2011 and 2013 at the New York City Center and at David Kotch Theater. She has been invited several times by the Ballet Concert of Puerto Rico as guest artist and also by the government of the Yucatan State of Mexico, as well as she has been invited by the Joburg Ballet of South Africa to perform Swan Lake the lead role Odette / Odile.
She has also participated in many Festivals of Ballet around the globe, such as in Argentina , Germany, Denmark, Canada, South Korea, USA, Spain, France, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Paraguay, Venezuela,Colombia, Portugal, Panama, Puerto Rico, Russia, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Turkey, Tunisia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, China, South Africa, among others.
She has received excellent reviews in the national and specialized press, at home and abroad. According to the magazine Dance Europe Viengsay occupies the fourth place among women and the sixth overall in the list of the 100 best dancers in the world for the season 2010-2011. Also she was selected as the best couple in the same year by the American Dance Magazine as the most inspiring pairing with the Russian dancer Ivan Vasiliev at Youth America Gran Prix Gala 2013.
