St. Pete Museum of History Wants Residents' Cuba Photos

WUSF | By Naomi Prioleau

Published May 24, 2016 at 5:30 AM EDT

The St. Petersburg Museum of History wants residents’ personal photos of Cuba for their upcoming exhibit “Experience Cuba.”

The multi-faceted exhibition, which opens June 15, will include photography by Clyde Butcher, artwork from Cuban artists and now photos from the Tampa Bay community.

Executive director,RuiFarias, said the original idea for the exhibit was to showcase Butcher’s work.

“It is not your typical Cuban photo exhibit, it’s not your ‘57Chevysor Havana or anything like that, it’s actually the unbelievable, beautiful countryside of Cuba and his photography is magnificent,” he said.

Employee at Tabanero Cigars in Ybor City, Jillian Garcia said she'd want photos of Old Havana in the "Experience Cuba" exhibit at the St. Petersburg Museum of History.

Fariasand his committee began thinking what they could add to it and that’s when the idea of including current Cuban artists such as Ibrahim Miranda and Los Carpinteroswas born. The final element to “Experience Cuba,” was the community aspect.

“We thought what a cool idea if we can get people to send in their photographs to talk about the current culture of Cuba,”Fariassaid.

Local Cubans, Jillian Garcia and BobbyCaballerosaid if they were to submit photos of their homeland, they’d want them to be of places they really enjoy.

Manager of La Tropicana Cafe in Ybor City, Bobby Caballero said he'd like to see photos of his favorite beach, Punta Guarda La Barca included in the "Experience Cuba" at the St. Petersburg Museum of History

ForCaballero, manager of La Tropicana Cafe in Tampa'sYborCity, his photo would be of his favorite beach, Punta Garda la Barca.

“The beach. It’s beautiful,” he said. “You can see like three colors, the water is like three colors, light blue, dark blue, more green. I’ve got beautiful pictures in my mind.”

Garcia, who works at Tabanero Cigars, said she’d include photos of Old Havana.

“I have a lot of pictures of Havana and the Old Havana, it’s the place where a lot of tourists want to visit because it’s the history of Cuba,” she said.

Since it is a history museum,Fariassaid he wants to know the stories behind the photos they receive; especially the ones that are from the pre-Fidel Castro era.

“We want stories,” he said. “We want people who lived in Cuba in the pre-Castro era to send in photographs and stories about what life was like growing up there before they came to the United States.”

Photos will be accepted until Friday, June 3, 2016 and can be submitted at cuba@spmoh.org. For more information visit The St. Petersburg Museum of History website here.