Adrián Fernández

Born in Havana, Cuba, Adrián Fernández (1984, Cuba) studied visual arts at the San Alejandro Fine Arts Academy and later at the Superior Institute of Arts in Havana. Adrián currently works as an independent artist and as a professor on Documentary Photography for NYU, Tisch School of the Arts, Office of Special Program Abroad and the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba. He has exhibited internationally in several group and solo shows, and his work can be found in private and public collections worldwide.

His latest series titled ‘Requiem’, are a suite of color photographs printed on metallic papers that explore the identity of groups or social sectors in Havana, Cuba and throughout the world using elements which define it best from an iconographic point of view. The project is based on imagery found in Cuban 20th century postage stamps, panning different periods of Cuba´s life as a nation, his different social projects, ideologies and paradigms. These startlingly beautiful images which relate to themes of power, identity, heroism and purity also address one of photography’s oldest jobs, to document and transport information, recalling the images’ function as symbol and icon while leaving space and breath to investigate our relationship to both.

Submitted by The Schoolhouse Gallery