I was introduced to Cary while working on my project ¡No hay más na’! , which I began in 2022. My portrait of this 65-year-old woman, her goose Axiuli and her cat Haytoo was taken at her home where Cary now lives with her animals. When I first met the cat, I asked why he was covered in dark patches. “Oh, he likes to sleep on the stove,” Cary replied, “and sometimes his fur catches fire, so I have to put it out.”
Cary, whose full name is Caridad Ribalta Oviedo, was born just weeks before the Cuban Revolution in 1959. She explained how her home was once the site of a laundry run by her family – Chinese immigrants from Guangzhou who settled in Cuba in the late 19th century. I was struck by her connection with her animals: as well as Axiuli and Haytoo, she has two dogs, Shimao and Tabey – all named in homage to her Chinese ancestors.
