Claudia Bacallao Ganzalez and Harold Sigler Ferguson on a Havana, Cuba terrace rooftop.

The Human Canvas

Art Inspired Through Spirituality

Story and Photos by David Hartung

When I first set out to do a portrait of Claudia Bacallao Ganzalez and Harold Sigler Ferguson my intention was not to do a fully nude male body. How the shoot evolved to such a level and even how it all came together was all quite serendipitous.

Moments like this are often unplanned prior to landing at the place we plan to do a feature story. Many things are scheduled with places to go and people to meet but it’s important to allow time for things to develop along the journey. Keeping our eyes and ears open to anything that can help build the story is essential. Such was the case for this portrait series.

Claudia patiently works to create her art on Harold’s body. The entire process took several hours.

I was working with TK senior writer, Mamie Chen, for the Cuba story. We met up in San Francisco, CA to catch our flight to Havana. With a brief stop over in Miami we were soon in downtown Havana. ( I won’t go into too much detail here about the trip as I wrote a longer piece for this site called Cuba’s Heart : https://www.davidhartung.com/cubas-heart/ )

One of the first things we heard about and observed was what Cubans refer to as The “Resolver” Spirit which translates to survival spirit. The word resolver is a Spanish verb which means to solve or find a solution to a problem. With Cuba being economically isolated for decades this spirit can be seen everywhere in daily life. It’s most obvious when you see how well they maintain their 1950s era American automobiles. With no access to parts they have to find ways to rebuild or replace engines as well as all the parts found on these 70-year-old vehicles. This “resolver” spirit doesn’t only apply to mechanical things but to daily life as well. People have to make do with very little. Since their professions often provide very little income they must come up with other ways to make ends meet.

Claudia and Harold represent examples of The “Resolver” Spirit.

From our guest house terrace we all worked together to create the portrait. Mamie, TK’s Senior Writer, got a good workout holding a reflector.

I first met Claudia while doing a shoot at the restaurant Salchi Pizza in Havana. Though her job with the restaurant was as manager I soon learned that she was actually a very gifted artist. She showed me some of her work which is often painted on human bodies. I found her painting style and subject matter intriguing and upon further discussion learned that the work is largely inspired by a combination of the Yoruba religion of West Africa and Santeria, which is a Afro-Caribbean religion of Cuba.

Harold was working at the Havana guest house, the Casa Cuarteles B&B Boutique, where we were staying. During our many discussions I learned that he had been a firefighter, an apprentice carpenter and electrician, as well as an exotic dancer. When he allowed that final nugget to reveal itself I had to learn more. He told me that while he was working as a handyman he was approached by a foreign middle-aged tourist and she asked if he would like to perform some exotic dancing for her and her visiting friends. Harold informed her that he had not done that kind of work before and despite his shyness was willing to give it try. He said later, “The women liked my sensual moves.”

Initially I found both Claudia and Harold lovely people but didn’t really see a place for them in our Cuba story. As Mamie and I kept working we often discussed how to include various people that represented this Resolver Spirit. Then one day it clicked. How about we bring Claudia and Harold together and she can use his body as her canvas. A few conversations and text messages later and both agreed.

Our guesthouse owner, Lillevi Rossi Sanchez, allowed us to use the rooftop terrace as our location. Claudia arrived with her paints and palette and Harold took off his shirt and the painting began. Harold wore a pair of shorts and my thinking, originally, was that I would photograph him from the waste up. But as Claudia continued to paint it was clear that nearly his entire body would be covered in fascinating colors, swirls, and strokes.

When Claudia finally put down her brush I could see that I needed to photograph more of Harold’s body. I didn’t think the shorts looked very interesting so asked Harold if he had something else he could put on to cover his private area. TK is a publication that is willing to push the envelope creatively but I’m pretty sure that a photo of a fully nude man would not make it onto the press. Harold said that he brought with him his thong that he used for his exotic dancing so I asked him to put it on. When he returned we all burst out in laughter. The thong, which was more like an off-white athletic supporter, had two plastic googly eyes positioned just above his manhood that moved when he moved. Under normal circumstances, if there is such a thing, him wearing this funny undergarment could have worked. However, the work that Claudia created was quite serious in nature. I didn’t want people to look at the photograph and laugh but rather be intrigued by what she painted and actually want to learn more about her and her art.

I then asked Harold if he minded being totally nude for the shoot. I also asked Claudia if she would be comfortable being photographed with her nude subject. Both agreed. But I still needed to cover his manhood with something. We scoured the terrace looking for ideas. Perhaps plant or a decoration for the guesthouse? Fruit? His hands? Then I looked down and saw Claudia’s palette. It was just the right size and connected her to the art.

Now it was time to shoot. I wanted to get something graphic and somewhat heroic. A low angle shot was what I was after but with them standing on the floor I couldn’t get a composition that I liked. So we moved several of the terrace tables together where I then had them stand side by side on top of the tables. Positioning my strobe fitted with a small softbox I began to make some exposures.. Claudia positioned her colorful palette strategically over Harold’s privates and comfortably rested her arm on his shoulder. The late afternoon blue Cuban sky, along with a few deteriorating buildings in the background completed the photo.

I then proceded to do individual images of Harold concentrating on the various artistic elements Claudia created. The shoot ended up creating one of TK’s most unique covers.