Belenna Mesa Lauto
Belenna Mesa Lauto
Website: www.belennalauto.com
Instagram: @belennaml
Email: belennaml@gmail.com
Project Statement – Belenna Mesa Lauto
The work presented is a fraction of a large project that examines the “Cubanization” of Calle Ocho in Miami, Florida and investigates themes of memory, time, Immigration and migration from a personal and cultural perspective.
In the summer of 1978, I explored Calle Ocho in Miami with my first 35mm camera and created my first documentary attempt at street photography in an effort to understand the “Cubanization” of areas in Miami, that my family was very much a part of as Cuban immigrants. I returned to this project in 2023, spending several days photographing and taking in the dramatic changes that had occurred. “Little Havana”, Calle Ocho’s more commercialized name, has itself migrated, changed and in some ways exploited the Cuban image. It is no longer completely Cuban. Though the area still hosts a few Cuban owned businesses, the authenticity of its early beginnings has been lost to the commercialization of an “idea”. This at least, is my first response to the experience of being there this February.
The work at this point, is taking the form of digital prints that coexist with transfer images from the 1978 negatives, which are scanned and printed with transfer medium on to cotton fiber-based papers. The digital prints somewhat follow the tradition of “street photography” as witnessed through my lens, and the combined transfer images invite the viewer to the contemplation of past and present.
The images presented provide a sampling of my photographic documentation this past February and the transfer “collages” that I am currently exploring. The work is archivally printed on13x19 and 17x22 fine art paper.
