Ruber Osoria

The son of a single mother, Ruber grew up in Contramaestre, a small town in the Cuban countryside. He discovered his love of photography when he began taking photos on an iPhone his uncle gave him on one of his trips back to Cuba. Ruber’s passion for photography soon became devotion, a determination to document the world through his lens. “Photography is a militancy, it is fulfilling a social duty,” Ruber told ARC.

In 2018, Ruber left Cuba in search of a better life and with the goal of buying his first camera. A month later, he arrived in Chile, having crossed through four countries and endured human trafficking, thirst, hunger, and fear. He was finally able to purchase his first camera and lenses. In 2019, Ruber, along with other photographers, founded AFoConce, an educational photography collective that works to develop “photographic culture.”

When it comes to his own work, Ruber is inspired by the Association of Independent Photographers, a group of photographers who captured urban life in the years of Chile’s dictatorship. Ruber believes that photography should be approached with social consciousness and sensitivity: “In Cuba, [foreign photographers] do documentary work about our country, but for the most part don’t show the reality from the [privileged position they have]. They photograph people who have nothing to eat, but the next day they go to their hotel,” Ruber explained to ARC.

Ruber views photography as a privilege and uses it to capture social inequalities and promote change. He has photographed the 2019–20 Chilean social protests and created art to call for the freedom of imprisoned Cuban artists. During his fellowship with ARC, he continued devoting himself to this mission by working on Rastros de la diáspora cubana en Chile, a photo book that captures the testimonies of the artists and seven other Cuban immigrants in Chile. 

Through photography and interviews, the project counteracts prevalent stereotypes about the Cuban community in Chile while reconceptualizing “Cubanidad” through the marginalized diaspora enclave in the country. Ruber’s creative vision and mapping of subjects’ lived experiences guide the viewer through their pains, hopes, and joys, demonstrating the indomitability of the human spirit and the power of art and culture to resist despite adverse conditions.