Insular Night: Invisible Gardens focuses on the urban life of contemporary Cuba and is the result of multiple journeys to the island from 2014 to 2018. The conceptual thread that binds the work together is the notion of ‘insularity’, which is a decisive feature of Cuban culture. This geographical concept, highlighting the condition of living surrounded by water, allowed Rodrigo Sombra to approach the way Cubans gaze at what lies beyond their margins and to explore the contradictory effects of the foreign presence in the island – a crucial question in Cuba, particularly since the early 1990s when the Soviet Union collapsed, as the country gradually opened itself to tourism and capitalism.
48 pages, 22.8 x 17.8 cm, Paper Journal (Melbourne).