Gift of John Andrew MacMahon '95

Stan Douglas has gained international recognition throughout his career for his photographs, film, and installation works. Douglas manipulates narratives from existing literature, film, and historical references in his work to blur the boundaries of cinema and visual art.

Douglas’s “Cuba” series captures photographs and film of the legacy of Castro’s Revolution and its shifting economic ideology. Images of failed utopia and neglected urban architecture portray the social reality of Havana, Cuba. This specific work portrays a panopticon architecture, a structure that allows for one individual to hold absolute vision mastery over any other individual in the space; the circular design points each individual cell towards the central pillar, from which the observer can see everyone. Douglas’s print of an abandoned panopticon in Havana captures the essence of a past totalitarian regime, yet the architecture appears to remain abandoned, unlike other images of repurposed urban spaces in the series. The legacy of surveillance persists, as it is difficult to reframe such a narrative, which heightens an awareness of the contemporary system of surveillance in which we all operate.