Teatro Canal: Fish

This is a photograph of what is under the floorboards of the ‘Teatro Canal,’ a You may notice the water and the fish and incorrectly conclude (as I did) that this is a result of decay, or a recent hurricane. In 1936, the cinema-theatre was, in fact, built above an underground river for acoustic reasons, and the fish were placed there in order to reduce the amount of mosquitoes. The water would temper the vibrations created by the performers, which would allow for clear sound to be projected to all 1500 spectators. The acoustic effect of this detail made the theatre into one of the most recognised theatres of central Cuba, drawing some of the most important Cuban performers of the 20th Century.

For my final degree show at CSM in 2018, I created a series of photographs and archival compositions with realia from a cinema in central Cuba owned and operated by my great-grandparents from the early 1930s up until their expulsion in 1961 – the Teatro Canal. I travelled there to trace the stories told by my grandparents to the physical spaces they knew, inhabited and lost - but what I found instead was an uncanny and oneiric space, in fact the inverse of the memories which had been passed down. As the project evolved, the postmemory which permeated my childhood became palpable. I became aware of my position within the Cuban diaspora, informing my fascination with the relationship between the human body, our memories and architectonic and geographical space.