El Dandy

Portrait of Elvirio el Dandy.  An icon of Old Havana at the turn of the century.  His custom of wearing finery has spawned a whole generation of young “Dandies” who hang out on Havana’s streets.

The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dramatic changes of 1959 as young adults. They have a strength of character and underlying humour that transcends the struggle that has defined their lives.

James Sparshatt went to Cuba in 1999 and was so taken with the island and its people that he returned 15 times in the following 7 years. His images are largely of the music and dance and innate rhythm of the island but he also found himself drawn to an older generation that had been old enough to understand the revolution in 1959, that lived through 40 years of tumultuous and often difficult times and who now watch with some bemusement the return of the outside world in wave upon wave of tourists.

James Sparshatt’s photographs of the “Revolutionary” generation of Cubans capture their grit and indominatable spirit.