CUBA

Liz Benítez de la Llera

‘Art is the way in which I get close to people whilst engaging with myself. It is how I transmit my words, my gaze, my world, and my freedom. Art is a transformative tool.’

Photographer

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Liz’s first encounter with art was through a family friend. Every week, she would go to their home to learn painting, drawing, pottery, printing and art history. Right away, she was entrapped by the universe of artistic expression. Since then, she has further developed her practice by dabbling in different mediums, but with a special focus on photography.
Photography was a family tradition; Liz grew up watching her grandmother use a Rolleiflex, and looking at the old family photographs. Her financial situation did not allow her to buy a digital camera, so she focused her artistic development on other mediums, such as metal work. Eventually, she gained a college degree in Plastic Arts and a Bachelors Degree in Social Communication from Habana University, whilst working as an art teacher for primary children.
In 2016, she saw an ad offering free photography lessons. Liz then decided to borrow a Sony camera from a friend and to pursue this path professionally. She went on to study photography at EFCH (Habana’s School of Creative Photography). Since then, she walks down the streets of Habana seeing potential photographs everywhere.
She describes her artistic gaze as a process where “common people take center stage” and where the “ordinary” becomes “light”. Through extreme patience, and an emotional attachment towards her Cuban roots, Liz’s main subjects are people, ‘barrios’ and the seaside. Her goal is to transmit the meaning that Cuba has to her to the rest of the world, leaving an eternal mark, which reflects her geographical transitions in an image-form.

Artworks

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