Silvia Lizama
Née en 1957; Havana, Cuba. She lives in Hollywood, Florida.
In November 1960, just before I turned three, my family left Cuba for Miami fully expecting to return once the political situation stabilized. What was meant to be a temporary move became a permanent life in the U.S., a country that offered us freedom and opportunity.
When curator Aldeide Delgado invited me to participate in the “Shared Documentary Narratives” exhibition at History Miami Museum, I began reflecting on my body of photographic work from the past 40-plus years. While I don’t identify strictly as a documentary photographer, my art has naturally captured the evolving landscapes and stories of South Florida. Projects such as documenting the Freedom Tower’s renovation, SW 8th Street, and various historic Florida sites came to mind, many of which no longer exist. However, my focus kept returning to a more personal project—an exploration of the negatives my mother left behind after her passing.
These negatives, many of which I had never seen before, were in poor condition—damaged, fused together, out of focus and streaked with light leaks from the bellows of my mother’s Kodak Kodon No.0 camera. What initially seemed like flaws revealed something more profound: they encapsulated the immigrant experience of my family and countless other Cuban refugees in Miami during the early 1960s. The images documented everyday life, our family, our home, our celebrations; reconnecting me with a childhood filled with joy, despite the underlying trauma my parents and older sisters must have felt.
Inspired by these fragile negatives, I chose to scan and digitally hand-color them, reviving their faded memories with my own recollections. This process pays homage to the Pictorialist photographers who prioritized emotional depth over strict documentation. Hand coloring has been a constant of my artistic practice for years, traditionally applied using photo oils on gelatin silver prints. For this series I translated that technique digitally, allowing the deterioration of the negatives to enhance the images, turning imperfections into integral elements of the narrative.
To present these works, I printed them large-scale on sheer fabric, suspended from the ceiling, creating an immersive environment that invites viewers to step into these moments and memories with me.
Silvia Lizama
https://my.barry.edu/fine-arts/photography/faculty/slizama/
WOPHA Congress
from October 23 to 26, 2024
www.wophacongress.org
www.wopha.org
