Cuba receives a Rosario photographer who will teach, for free, the versatility of the profession to one hundred kids
The photographer remarked, in turn, that none of this would have been possible without the support of the Ernesto Guevara Solidarity and Cooperation Association, part of the Department of Social Anthropology of the Complutense University of Madrid, sponsors and collaborators external.
Although it is common knowledge of the economic reality on the island, the talks that Bäersch had with the directors of the entities with which he will work resulted like buckets of cold water. Especially when he asked what he could collaborate with and bring from Madrid, the city where he has lived for 20 years, to which the managers told him that school supplies such as pens, colored pencils, colored paper, markers, and erasers would be of great help. . In addition, they will be given two cameras and material to download them.
The project called rural Cuba photography and childhood is designed for boys and girls between 10 and 12 years old from the Abel Santa María Cuadrado semi-boarding school and pre-adolescents between 13 and 16 years old from the Omar Girón basic secondary school, both from El Caney in Santiago de Cuba.
This idea had to be postponed by Ingrid on several occasions, due to work and personal projects, until the confinement due to the pandemic enabled her to take the first, second and other necessary steps, including many bureaucratic and advisory ones, to shape and complete this activity.
In the meetings, the students will learn to interact and create through a photographic camera and, as the professional explained: “I am interested in them knowing this art as a new way of expression through which they will be able to capture part of their reality. They are at a sponge-like age where they can acquire the concepts but at the same time understand what photography is about. And arriving in Cuba and giving the cameras to the boys is going to be a great experience and who knows that this passion could awaken in some of them”.
In turn, asked if she is aware of the importance that this activity may have in the life of a boy or girl in Cuba, especially due to the difficult access to this type of training, Ingrid said she did not want to think about it because he knows that tears are going to win the game. “I know that this is very important, and for now I have been very busy with the preparations, but I know that it will be very strong to see them have, for the first time, a camera in their hands. In fact, each one will have their own thanks to those that have donated to me in a particular way, in addition to those that Fujifilm and Canon sent me and those that I was able to buy second-hand in recent weeks," he said, adding: "My goal is introduce them and teach them how to use them, the versatility that photography has even to express themselves and record their reality and leave them that tool in addition to knowledge. I always think about how important it is to give a boy the chance to change his reality, or to take him out of his daily life, to invite him to want to know more. Because that is culture, not everything is about money and food, which are important points to cover, you also have to help them arouse their curiosity and what better than through photography?
Regarding the schools, Bäersch commented that the classes will be given in the semi-boarding school, since the Omar Girón secondary school is very small and the classrooms of the first one will be used to take advantage of their cross ventilation as a health prevention, due to the pandemic. Thus, students will go to that nearby entity. “They told me about the semi-boarding school that it is very big, it has its own garden, its own cattle, and the boys learn a lot from it. And it is semi-boarding because sometimes several of them have to stay the night when their parents go to work in the fields.
Another reality
Among the changes that Ingrid will have to adjust to in her days in Cuba is also that of electricity, which is 120w, for which the photographer You must bring 220w adapters for your equipment. She, on the other hand, carries with her the string to tie the balloons, the cloth tape for the diplomas and the adhesive tape to stick the posters on the wall. “They told me that stockouts are important so this is like organizing something in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes the reality to which one goes escapes our awareness”, she mentioned and recalled that when she spoke with the director of the school, who will also lodge her in her house, and asked her what she would like to take as a gift from Spain to her and her son (having in mind some perfume or a characteristic detail from Madrid), the woman told her that "she would love to receive dried fruits, deodorants for the bathroom, feminine wipes or scented soaps". “It was very strong because I buy those things at the supermarket when I feel like it and it doesn't cost a lot of money. That response broke me emotionally because there I realized how little access they have to elements, products, so simple,” said the 42-year-old who traveled almost all of Argentina and a large part of Europe. “The truth is that I have traveled a lot and I know very different realities, but in any case I know that Cuba will be a very strong reality. In any case, I think that all this is part of learning. In fact, when I find myself in the middle of a discussion with a person who is very closed in his way of thinking, I always suggest that he should travel and read more. I am sure that there will be a before and after on this trip, because each place teaches you that there is not only one way of seeing life, only one way of living," she said.
He even got his seven-year-old daughter, Mara, involved in this project. She let the little girl witness the procedures, talks, search for material and purchases that she had to do for this trip that will distance them for a month. “I wanted him to be part of all this from minute zero. On the one hand so that they know the importance of taking care of the other, of helping them, of giving them a hand. We talk a lot about the situation in Cuba, the reality that other boys and girls their age are going through. On the other, so that she understands the importance of this project for me, which will keep me away from her for a whole month. Seeing that huge box full of cameras and other materials was very emotional for both of them. We even looked together for the cameras that I was able to buy later and heard several times the reason for this purchase. She knows that this project makes me very happy," he said.
Meanwhile, and for security reasons and to avoid inconveniences with immigration, Ingrid will travel directly from Madrid to Santiago de Cuba, where members of the Cuban education portfolio will be waiting for her, as well as staff from the schools with which she will work. To do this, you will have to get on a Russian plane from the 60s. possible. There they will wait for me with my visa and permission for all my material, so I don't have problems with Migrations. I cannot run the risk of losing my cameras and the ones I carry for them," he warned.
Behind the scenes
Contact with Cuban schools arose through the Ernesto Guevara Solidarity and Cooperation Association, who work from Spain constantly sending food and other necessary materials to citizens on the island . “Thanks to this association, they welcome me in Cuba with open arms. They even gave me enormous help with the permits along with their relationship with the Cuban government and the Spanish ministry of foreign affairs. They were my bridge and I am very grateful to them", recalled the Argentine and detailed the endless procedures that she had to do before starting her flight next Sunday: she sent the project in writing to the photography companies, then she contacted by phone and in Parallel sent his project to the Cuban ministry, always with the advice of the Complutense University of Madrid. Among the photography companies, some did not want to be related to Cuba, for which reason they refused to donate cameras. Only Fujifilm and Canon gave the ok and sent him dozens of digital copies. She bought the rest used and many others she obtained from a collection that she organized on the social networks of the wedding photography company of which she is a founding partner, @35mm_fotografas, and on @35mm_family, her own extension in social photographs.
Meanwhile, at the beginning of this adventure, Ingrid opened a crowdfunding account to raise funds and it was not an easy task, since companies like Paypal "threatened to close the crowdfunding account if they continued to appear as a payment method." “It was very difficult, but with friends from Spain, Argentina, Switzerland and other parts of the world I was able to raise the money I needed to cover travel costs, transfers, used cameras, memory cards and material for classes”, she confided.
Travel diary
Before boarding the plane, Baersch created an Instagram profile called Cubaruralfotos (@cubaruralfotos), where he shows part of the preparations for the trip and will share some fragments of this with his followers. daring on the island
Much of the photographic material collected from the participants in the workshops, after selection, ethnographic research by anthropologists and psychologists, will form part of a large photographic exhibition in different spaces and Spanish cities. In addition, the possibility of carrying out the photographic exhibition in Rosario is being managed.
