New Art Book Sheds Light on Cuba’s ‘Campesino’ Life

“Cuba was from its dawn an agricultural nation and even today, although to a lesser extent, it continues to be; this is why the country man, the Campesino, plays a primary role in continuing to shape the national and cultural identity.”– Aldo Daniel Naranjo

Photographer Richard Sharum travelled across Cuba to document the lives of isolated farmers, or ‘Campesinos,’ and their wider communities at a time of national transition for his new art book, Campesino Cuba. The histories of these communities have formed the backbone of Cuba, and yet they are rarely depicted in photographic representations of the country. Sharum began researching Campesino communities in late 2015 and his resulting black and white photographs depict the intertwined relationship of people and the land they depend on.

During the course of several journeys between January 2016 and November 2019, Sharum travelled from the northern to the southern shorelines, across the western provinces, and to the eastern villages deep in the Sierra Maestra region of Cuba to complete his project. Over one hundred photographs from Sharum’s trips will be published in his first monograph entitled, Campesino Cuba (Gost, Fall 2021).

Sharum, who grew up in a multi-ethnic home and neighborhood in Corpus Christi, Texas writes: “I was not interested in giving credence to expected topics such as renowned political figures, classic cars or the colorful streets of Havana. I was more interested in taking a long and detailed look at the most isolated population group and their position in Cuban history. For this I knew I had to get deep into the land where the blood meets the soil and spend years with those not easily seen. I wanted to see Cuban’s as they were and in a way which forbade any memory of what I had been told about them.”

As an American, Sharum had always been intrigued by Cuba—a country still severely restricted to its citizens and under a broad embargo put in place by the US government over sixty years ago. He had wanted to add his own testament to the visual representation of the island. In the beginning, his interest lay with investigating the migration of the young male agricultural workforce from rural communities—farming tobacco, coffee, sugarcane, cattle and marine harvests—to urban areas. Since the advent of the internet, rural districts have witnessed an exodus of young men in search of better financial opportunities, or to escape a life of back-breaking labor and general solitude. With Cuba in a near perpetual food shortage, the cascading effect from less agricultural labor has grim implications for future generations.

As Sharum travelled deeper within Cuba, he expanded and shifted the project to encompass the lives of all Campesinos he encountered in the communities, including the role of women and children, for whom he developed a great appreciation and respect. The book includes essays by Cuban historian Aldo Daniel Naranjo and writer Domingo Cuza Pedrera (who grew up as a Campesino), allowing their words to speak for their own experience and country.