Street Life in Santiago de Cuba

Over a three year period, I walked the residential streets around Santiago de Cuba, an area of Cuba that tourists rarely visit. I experienced the immense poverty and decay people live in.

What caught my curiosity was people gathering around windows and doorways on every street I explored.  Some of doors lead to small dirty bare stores, most are people’s homes.

There is a severe shortage of food and basic provisions. Those who have access to fruit from rural areas sell it on the street, on steps, and in doorways. Those who obtain basic ingredients like flour, make cakes and buns and sell from their windows. An entrepreneurial spirit has grown from the necessity to survive.

My intention was to document this lifestyle, showing how people live in hardship amongst the decay, juxtaposed with bright cheerful colours of the buildings and clothes worn. The latter donated mostly by tourists.