Mi Bandera. Photo by Mario Díaz.
The first photograph by a Cuban photographer that I ever purchased, over 20 years ago, was Mi Bandera (My Flag) by Mario Díaz. I was about to visit Cuba for the first time, and I called my friend Douglas Kirkland, the great Hollywood photographer, who I knew had been to Cuba. He recommended I go see the legendary Alberto Korda, who took the most famous photo of Che Guevara, “Guerillero Heroico.” Kirkland advised me to go see Mario Díaz at the newly established Fototeca de Cuba, the National Photo Gallery of Cuba. I followed Kirkland’s advice and Mario Díaz did indeed take me to see Korda at his home. It was a profound meeting that day, which I will never forget.
Guerillero Heroico. Photo by Alberto Korda.
That visit to Cuba led to a more than twenty-year association with Fototeca de Cuba, Cuban photographers, and Govinda Gallery. Since that time I have had the opportunity to organize five remarkable exhibitions at Cuba’s national photo gallery, starting with La Revolución del Rock & Roll in 2002, as well as several exhibitions in Washington at Govinda Gallery of Cuban photographers, including Alberto Korda, Roberto Salas, Osvaldo Salas, José Figueroa, Raúl Corrales, Liudmila and Nelson, Pupo and others. I have previously written blogs about Salas, Korda, and Ted Russell’s Dylan exhibition I organized in 2017 at the Fototeca de Cuba, among others.
Mario Díaz. Photo by Ariel Chang.
Mario Díaz was the first director of Fototeca de Cuba. He was a brilliant photographer and I am deeply grateful to have had his association. Viva Mario Díaz!
Govinda Gallery 
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