Raúl Cañibano

( August, 10, 1961, Havana, Cuba )

Raúl Cañibano was born in Havana and spent his childhood between the city of the countryside, alternating Havana and the province of Cienfuegos. Later he graduated as a welding technician, starting to work as a welder in civil aviation until 1988.

In 1989 he began to be interested in the world of photography, which he learned self-taught. In those years, there were no schools or workshops in the country where to study photography, so he began to learn about art by visiting the National Library of Cuba in order to find out about art history, composition, and also developing and printing techniques.

At the same time, he worked in a photographic studio called “Caracas” where he worked as a laboratory technician. Thus he alternated the theory of literature with the daily practice of a photographic studio, and venturing into his first artistic photographs.

In 1990 the sadly famous “special period” began in Cuba, after the collapse of the socialist camp in Europe, which limited trade with these countries, causing the absence of photographic material, among other things and therefore part of the films. that he used at this time were expired, which caused him to lose many of the first important photographs.

His first series named “Tierra Guajira” won the National Photography Prize in 1999. He belongs to the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba and is included as one of the most important photographers in the last 50 years of Cuban photography.

His work focuses on people and demonstrates the vitality of modern Cuban photography. He has exhibited around the world and won an important award in Cuba for a project on the life of rural workers. Awarded at various international events, his work is published by the Editorial “La Fábrica” and is part of relevant collections such as the ICP in New York, the Trockmorton Gallery, the Cuban Photo Library, Juan Mulder and the Michel Horbach Foundation in Germany. Cañibano was one of eleven photographers selected for the film “Cuba, Si! Cuba, Seen!”, A 50-year retrospective of Cuban photography at the Royal National Theater in London in 2000.

He has received several awards, Gold Medal from the Spanish Photographic Confederation, First Prize in the Plastic Arts Contest March 13, Gallery 23 and L, First Prize of the Biennial of Photography La Llave del Cerro, First Prize of the National Salon of Photography 1999, Fototeca de Cuba, UNEAC Special Prize at the First Alfredo Sarabia Photography Biennial, Third Prize at Lazos en el mar, Holland, First Prize at the Santiago Álvares Competition, Asisa Prize, Málaga, Spain.

Some of his Photos