Swamped by fifty years of anti-Communist propaganda and travel restrictions, we tend to forget that Cuban society and culture have always been rife with verve and vibrant excess. Colette Gaiter sets us straight in her series of color photomontages of the island’s people and environment, composed of shots that she snapped there in 2007 when she latched on to the Global Exchange Program. By seamlessly compounding two images into each print, Gaiter succeeds in enhancing both visual effect and meaning, as when we see a statuette of a woman with thick red lips chomping on a cigar who foregrounds a wild and swirling Santeria ceremony. In her most stunning image, Gaiter has superimposed a map board tracing the progress of Cuba’s post-revolutionary literacy campaign over a multi-colored and decaying stone wall graced by graffiti. (Michael Weinstein)
Through February 21 at Woman Made Gallery, 685 N. Milwaukee.
