Cuba Parliamentary Elections, 2018

In March 2018, Cuba held parliamentary elections for the National Assembly of People's Power, within a political system defined by continuity rather than competition. Candidates were nominated through a state-led process, and voters were asked to approve or reject a unified list, without the presence of multiple parties or opposing platforms. This body of work documents election day as it unfolds in everyday spaces — schools, neighborhood centers, and public buildings across Havana and beyond. Participation is steady, embedded in routine, shaped as much by social expectation as by civic duty.

The images focus on quiet, repetitive gestures: ballots folded with care, hands resting on transparent boxes, brief exchanges between neighbors and election workers. Children stand beside ballot boxes as symbolic guardians, a visual detail both familiar and distinctive within the Cuban electoral landscape.There is little visible tension. The process moves with a sense of order and predictability, reflecting a system where outcome is largely anticipated. Yet within this structure, individual presence remains — subtle, contained, and often unspoken.Rather than framing the elections through conflict or rupture, this project examines the nature of participation within a controlled political environment. It observes how legitimacy is performed and maintained through ritual, and how political life can exist in forms that are less visible, but no less significant.