Effervescent and warm Argentinian photographer Maria Fernanda Hubeaut exudes a verve for life and her work.
Born in Santa Fe, she is the quintessential multi-talented creative. She flits with ease from: a qualified journalist, a mentor, performance artist and all the way back to photography.
In her photography she manages to bring her personality and her ‘work’ seamlessly in visually riveting, educational and (at times) challenging images.
3 min read
I was always drawing, writing, artistic performance when I was younger. It is strange though no one really in my family was into the arts.
One of my grandfather’s Alfonso Modesto used to travel a lot. He was the person who encouraged me to pursue my creativity in a way. He bought an old Asahi Pentax SPOTMATIC Super Takumar from Japan. I think he saw in me my artistic point of view and my sensibilities.
It was sad for me when he gave me that camera because soon after that he went into a diabetic coma, and he died. I was always around him. When he died, I used the camera in a cathartic way, and I started taking pictures. It was my tool to start to understand the language of photography.
The rigid, formulaic way that photography is taught absolutely hinders creativity. I need to be free. When you are in touch with your creativity, your freedom you will be in a healthy state of mind.
You pay the price for that determination and freedom. I missed my family. I don’t have kids, unfortunately I had a miscarriage, and I am divorced but of course this is part of my story and I embrace it.
In 1994 I went to Cuba. I was meant to be there for one month, but it ended up being three months-it was an amazing time.
I want to go back to Cuba and find the same people and the same places and see the changes.
My mission is to celebrate the beauty of humans, languages, cultures, their stories, surpassing the limitations and structures that creates unnecessary separations between people (even if it is painful).…that is what I want to do with my photography.
My grandfather [Alfonso] who is the love of my life he said-“the day you don’t want to learn, or you don’t have curiosity about anything that is the day you die”.