Silvia Lizama
Born in 1957; Havana, Cuba. She lives in Hollywood, Florida.
In November 1960, just before I turned three, my family left Cuba for Miami, hoping to return once the political situation stabilized. What was supposed to be a temporary move became a permanent life in the United States, a country that offered us freedom and opportunity.
When curator Aldeide Delgado invited me to participate in the “Shared Documentary Narratives” exhibition at the History Miami Museum, I began to reflect on my photographic work over the past 40-plus years. Although I do not identify strictly as a documentary photographer, my art has naturally captured the evolving landscapes and stories of South Florida. Projects such as documenting the renovation of the Freedom Tower, SW 8th Street, and various Florida historic sites came to mind, many of which no longer exist. However, I kept focusing on a more personal project: an exploration of the negatives that my mother left behind after her death.
These negatives, many of which I had never seen before, were in poor condition: damaged, fused, blurry, and streaked with light leaks from the bellows of my mother’s Kodak Kodon No.0 camera. What initially seemed like flaws revealed something deeper: They encapsulated the immigration experience of my family and countless other Cuban refugees in Miami in the early 1960s. The images documented everyday life, our family , our house, our celebrations; reconnecting me to 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 color them by hand, reviving their faded memories with my own memories. This process pays homage to Pictorialist photographers who favored emotional depth over strict documentation. Hand coloring has been a constant in my artistic practice for years, traditionally applied using photo oils on gelatin silver prints. For this series, I translated this technique digitally, allowing the deterioration of the negatives to enhance the images, transforming imperfections into elements of the narrative.
To present these works, I printed them on a large scale on transparent fabric, suspended from the ceiling, creating an immersive environment that invites viewers to enter with me into these moments and memories.
Silvia Lizama
https://my.barry.edu/fine-arts/photography/faculty/slizama/
KILLER Congress
from October 23 to 26, 2024
www.wophacongress.org
www.wopha.org
