Marta María Pérez Bravo

Marta María Pérez is a photographer born in Havana, Cuba in 1959 and currently based in Mexico. She studied painting at the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro in Marianao, outside Havana, and later graduated from the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana. Since the mid-1980s, she has been creating black-and-white photographs that often feature a part of her body, rarely her face, in what has been described as a "static performance."

Pérez's photographs are characterized by a central image set against an iridescent white background and surrounded by a diffused focus. She often combines parts of her body in unconventional ways with objects such as oars or candles, drawing on aspects of Afro-Cuban religions such as Santería and Palo Monte. Although she is not initiated into these religions, Pérez uses their mythology to express female spirituality.

In her works, titles function as inscriptions that recall omens based on Santería or Palo Monte beliefs while also addressing the experience of being a woman. For example, in her series "Para concebir" (To conceive, 1985-86) and "Macuto" (1992), Pérez explores her own experience as a mother. "Macuto" expresses the idea of motherhood as devotion and the artist's desire to protect her twins, who are represented in the charm Pérez holds in front of her heart. However, some of the works in this series challenge the taboos related to maternity and femininity in these syncretic belief systems.

Pérez's photographs have been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Cuba, Mexico, and other countries. She has also been awarded various prizes, including the National Award of Plastic Arts from the Cuban Ministry of Culture in 2016.