“…all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow, for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?” Ecclesiastes 6-12
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In 2014, a chance encounter led me to meet the members of an aging community, living in a crumblingapartment complex in the town of Cienfuegos, Cuba. Although approximately sixty years of age separated between us, we bonded almost immediately. I returned to visit them a few times per year since.
On my subsequent visits, I returned to find apartments turning empty. The tenant left the world, leaving a few personal objects behind and the void between the walls. Those walls witnessed so much: relationships and birthdays, joy and sadness. Now, they stand in their solitude. Soon, the government will lodge a new tenant in the apartment and walls will be painted again, until they too will become another layer of paint on the wall.— —
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Leonada Gelato Machena, in her one-room apartment. Cienfuegos, Cuba / Oded Wagenstein.
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Moria Antonia Gomez’s one-room apartment
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Tereza Boniza in her bedroom. On the wall (left) a picture of her mother when she was young. Cienfuegos, Cuba / Oded Wagenstein.
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Colorful objects pasted on a wall in a one-room apartment. Cienfuegos, Cuba / Oded Wagenstein.
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Delphine Fernandez, in his small one-room apartment, surrounded by images of Lenin and studies of Marx. Every day, he wears the uniforms from his work at customs, even though he retired a long time ago. Cienfuegos, Cuba / Oded Wagenstein.
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Havinyo Agiar’s image reflected through a broken mirror in his one-room apartment. Cienfuegos, Cuba / Oded Wagenstein.
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Delphine Fernandez’s apartment after he passed away. Cienfuegos, Cuba / Oded Wagenstein.
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Ilama Bural Morachon in her apartment. Cienfuegos, Cuba / Oded Wagenstein.
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Michael Reynaldo in his apartment. Cienfuegos, Cuba / Oded Wagenstein.
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Onelia Katyo, watching the street through her apartment’s door. Anyone who is passing by Onelia’s door is her potential friend: a passing neighbor, children on their way to the nearby school, even a stray cat. Cienfuegos, Cuba / Oded Wagenstein.
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An empty bed of a deceased tenant. Most of the community’s elders are living alone. When they pass away in their houses, they are usually by themselves. Cienfuegos, Cuba / Oded Wagenstein.
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Berta walking down the hall. Cienfuegos, Cuba / Oded Wagenstein.
