An exhibit featuring both portraits and street photography of Havana and Vinales, Cuba by Ann Tracy will run from April 22nd to May 24th at the Ann Tracy Fine Art and Photography space inside Constellation Gallery, 511 Congress Street, Portland. An artist's reception will be held on Wednesday, May 8 from 5:30 to 8 p.m.Tracy was in Cuba earlier this year on a people to people cultural exchange led by internationally renowned photographer Elizabeth Opalenik and organized by the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. Tracy is also a member of the Maine Artists Collective and has been vetted by U.S. Artists, a nonprofit group in Los Angeles, and successfully used their unique fundraising program for her next body of work entitled "The Three Graces For Environmental Awareness" which will be shown later this year. 

Viva Cuba focuses on the people and streets of both Havana and Vinales, a community west of Havana where the topography is like that of South East Asia and is one of the biggest tobacco producing regions in the country. The tobacco is not only used to make the famous Cuban cigars, but is also used to make an organic pesticide that is  used throughout the country.

"My conceit in designing the exhibit is that my little gallery within Constellation should evoke a truly Cuban feel", Tracy said."That's why we're emulating the Cuban "dryer" look - which is hanging the mounted photographs on clothes lines with clothes pins.It also reminds me of my childhood in Maine where it was my job to hang out the laundry as the oldest girl in the family."

This is Tracy's first solo photographic show in Portland since moving here almost two years ago. Although she grew up in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, her family moved to Colorado in 1969. She most recently lived in Sacramento, California where she not only exhibited in many venues such as the Center for Contemporary Art and Asylum Gallery but her work has also been shown in galleries and museums in California, New Mexico, New York and Maui.