Untold Stories – Hector Delgado
Untold stories
Hector Delgado
To celebrate The Raw Society’s birthday we normally do some sort of give-away however, given these unprecedented times, this year we wanted to something exceptional for a very special individual named Hector Delgado and we are hoping to be able to count on your help to pull it off!
Hector is a 71 year-old photographer born and raised in Cuba. Since he was 25 he has been working as a photojournalist documenting many of the things that make the Caribbean Island so unique: from its world-famous ballet to its traditional carnivals, the Yoruba culture and many of their little known rituals to public festivities and celebrations.
By the 1990’s Hector’s accumulated wealth of images and knowledge on Afro-cuban folklore and religion led to several invitations to give conferences at Colombia, Harvard and Northeastern University amongst several others. He continued to do these up until 2014 when his wife Mirta was diagnosed with Cancer, news that was so traumatising to him that he vouched never leave her side again – a promise that he has kept to this day despite many financial hardships, particularly now.
In 2017, through a mutual friend, we met Hector in Havana for the first time and very quickly became part of his family. Since then, Hector has been a vital part of our Cuba Photo Tours, sharing his photos and stories about Cuba and inspiring our participants in a way that only he knows how to do.
The project
During our last trip (2019) Hector, who is always very humble about his own work, reached into a cupboard and pulled out several paper packages that had been carefully sealed and had hand-written notes on them. As he delicately unwrapped the packages to reveal a vast number of contact sheets and negatives he explained that this was his life’s work. It was the legacy that he would leave behind and he wanted us to have it because he knew that we would look after it and understand the value of what he was putting in our hands.
From the moment we saw Hector’s work we knew that it had to be shared and after a lot of thought, we decided that the best way to share it was by publishing a photo book with his works and personal stories (both Hector and Mirta are fantastic writers too). In doing so, his story will not go untold and he will be able to make a little extra income from the sale of the published books.
In order to make this book a reality, Jorge and I will need to get all of Hector’s negatives scanned by VM Foto, process and edit the images, sequence them, translate all of the texts that Hector sends us (the book will be in English), and of course, produce the book.
We will be donating our time but the estimated cost of production is 2,160 euros which we can’t cover alone. So as we blow out the candles to celebrate The Raw Society’s 4th brithday we close our eyes and wish for a small amount of support from anyone who is willing and able, to make this project come true.
By the 1990’s Hector’s accumulated wealth of images and knowledge on Afro-cuban folklore and religion led to several invitations to give conferences at Colombia, Harvard and Northeastern University amongst several others. He continued to do these up until 2014 when his wife Mirta was diagnosed with Cancer, news that was so traumatising to him that he vouched never leave her side again – a promise that he has kept to this day despite many financial hardships, particularly now.
In 2017, through a mutual friend, we met Hector in Havana for the first time and very quickly became part of his family. Since then, Hector has been a vital part of our Cuba Photo Tours, sharing his photos and stories about Cuba and inspiring our participants in a way that only he knows how to do.
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20x25cm Standard Portrait Photo Book
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Hardcover
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104 pages approx
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100# Premium Lustre paper
The book will contain a prologue by Alan West Duran, poet, critic, essayist and director of the department of Latin American and Caribbean studies at Northeastern University. Alan has worked with Hector and knows his work extensively.
In addition to Hector’s photographs, the book will also feature an introduction with some personal accounts by Hector. All texts will be in English & Spanish.
The funds raised will go in their entirety towards the publication of the book. If the funds raised are insufficient, The Raw Society will be donating the difference to ensure that this project is completed. We will be collecting donations until the 11th of October.
Production dates: 12th October – 6th November.
The completed photo book will be available at the end of October and available for purchase via our website. 90% of the sales of the book will go directly to Hector (the remaining 10% will be reinvested into The Raw Society: The only condition Hector had for the production of his work).
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