Friday, January 19, 2007

FIU to hold Korda exhibit

From the Miami New Times events calendar:

We’ve all seen that photo of political, and now pop, icon [c]he Guevara -- rockin’ that beret, hair blowing in the wind, eyes all steely and intense. But few know the man behind the camera, the man who told El [c]he: “One, two, three ... say, ‘Socialist revolutionary!’” All right, Havana’s native son Alberto Diaz Korda might not have said those exact words, but he is the man behind the image. Because he was the personal photographer to [f]idel [c]astro from 1959 to 1968, his lens was the official eye that captured the Cuban Revolution. Both politically unaffiliated and commercially successful, Korda has won praise for his portfolio that focused on society’s forgotten. He died in 2001, leaving behind an extensive body of work that revealed Cuba’s soul. This assortment of images, from political to fashionable, have been compiled into a graphic documentary named Kordavision. This visual jaunt through Korda’s 40-year career will be screening at the Frost Art Museum.
This is highly irresponsible of FIU.

While I don't mind an exhibit of Korda's work, purely from an artistic and historical perspective, I do (obviously) take offense at any political commentary or glorification of che, castro, etc. There is a more responsible way to present this, particularly in a way that is sensitive to the political and personal feelings of the majority of the student body and surrounding community.

Now, the slant could purely be from the New Times blurb and the exhibit will be apolitical and historically motivated, but somehow I doubt it.

H/T Babalu.

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