Photo Centre's 'CUBA' to Open 4/9

Fatima NeJame, president and chief executive officer of the world-renowned Palm Beach Photographic Centre (PBPC), today announced that the next exhibition would be CUBA: Contrasting Visions. Opening April 9 this exhibition will present more than 200 images taken during four different FOTOshoots in Havana and the surrounding countryside over the last year.

Vincent Versace, the internationally recognized pioneer in the art and science of digital photography, is curating the exhibition that will include more than 80 of his own photographs. The remaining photos were all taken by Palm Beach Photographic Centre students, who participated in the photo shoots on 14 different days, including Carol Booth, Michael Holstein, Eric Isicoff, Jay Koenigsburg, Ken Kurzweil, Tommy Morrison, Carol Roberts and Leslie Slatkin.

"Much of Cuba has been left untouched since 1959, with beautiful beaux arts and art deco buildings, now crumbling into accelerated decrepitude," says Versace. "Because the country has been so isolated and untouched for so long, the people have a sense of innocence and openness that is unique." "Even though I describe the Cuban experience as complexities made up of many little things, I want people who view this exhibition to see the hope in the people and their indomitable human spirit, even while living in the most difficult of places," he says, adding that it was important to capture these incredible images, "the interesting plainness of Cuba today before the thundering herds start arriving in waves" now that a half century of travel restrictions are starting to lift.

The public is invited to the opening reception for CUBA: Contrasting Visions on Thursday, April 9, from 6 to 8 p.m.