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elisabenedettih I walk I look I see I photograph is a love affair with life.

Little Havana has a personality all its own.As I walk its streets, I find myself drawn not only to the people, but also ...
06/04/2026

Little Havana has a personality all its own.

As I walk its streets, I find myself drawn not only to the people, but also to the signs, painted messages, storefront images, and unexpected visual gems that seem to wink at you from every corner. They are funny, nostalgic, bold, and sometimes wonderfully improvised.

These details reveal a neighborhood with a character unlike any other in Miami, a place where memory, humor, culture, and daily life spill out onto the streets.

Alongside the women I have photographed and interviewed, I have been collecting these fragments of Little Havana’s visual language. Together, they tell the story of a neighborhood that refuses to lose its voice.

Little Havana always seems to have something to say.

From the serie “A Fresh Story to Rewrite”
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Betsaida Hay Suarez.As part of my ongoing project documenting 100 women who shape the life of this neighborhood, I asked...
06/02/2026

Betsaida Hay Suarez.

As part of my ongoing project documenting 100 women who shape the life of this neighborhood, I asked Betsaida Hay Suárez the same questionnaire I ask every participant.

Betsaida arrived in the United States in 1986 and today considers Little Havana her home. She keeps Cuba alive through its traditional food, music, family memories, and everyday customs.

When asked what she values most about Cuban women, she spoke of their dedication and their role as mothers.

She also reflected on the double responsibility many women carry, working while caring for their families.

For Betsaida, Little Havana is more than a neighborhood. “All of it is precious,” she says. “I would never move anywhere else.”

These are not simply photographs. Through a shared questionnaire, the women of Little Havana tell their own stories, preserving the memories, traditions, and voices that continue to shape this community.

From the serie “A Fresh Story to Rewrite”

Maria Antonia Sánchez.She arrived in Miami from Cuba in 2006 after a 22-day journey through Peru, France, Mexico, and t...
05/28/2026

Maria Antonia Sánchez.

She arrived in Miami from Cuba in 2006 after a 22-day journey through Peru, France, Mexico, and the U.S. Today she works in a smoke shop and as a tourist hustler.

When asked what she brought from Cuba, she answered without hesitation: “Partying, drinking, and making money.”
She remembers sitting on the Malecón with a bottle of rum, playing dominoes, and going to the beach. She says Cuban women are sincere, family-oriented, and “when they fall in love, they are faithful.”

For her, Little Havana still carries the feeling of people walking the streets, stopping to talk, dancing salsa, and connecting with one another. And the one place she never wants to disappear: Calle Ocho.

From the serie “A Fresh Story to Rewrite”

Luela Benito.Part of my ongoing project documenting 100 women from Little Havana through portraits and handwritten quest...
05/25/2026

Luela Benito.

Part of my ongoing project documenting 100 women from Little Havana through portraits and handwritten questionnaires.

Luela Benito arrived in Miami from Cuba in 1987 escaping repression and the lack of freedom. Through her memories of Havana, the Malecón, Cuban food, language, and community, her story reflects how women carry culture and memory across borders.

For her, Little Havana is still alive in the sound of Spanish, in family traditions, and in the spirit of Calle Ocho.

These are not simple photographs. They speak.

Mery HernandezTo sew and to Knit.“For Mery Hernández, these actions are far more than traditional crafts; they are the i...
05/20/2026

Mery Hernandez

To sew and to Knit.

“For Mery Hernández, these actions are far more than traditional crafts; they are the invisible threads keeping her tied to Cuba since she arrived in Miami in 1999, petitioned by her father. After years of hard work in the factories of Hialeah and at Goodwill, Mery now spends her days passing down this heritage, teaching other women to knit in Little Havana.

Behind the warmth of her hands lies a deep nostalgia for the family she left behind, the landscapes of Varadero and Trinidad, and that unbreakable strength inherent to Cuban women, a resilience driven by a single purpose: to fight relentlessly for her children and grandchildren.
Mery keeps her homeland alive through community, the rhythm of the Carnavales, and the daily life along Calle 8. Through her handwritten words and her presence, she anchors a displacement into a beautiful act of dwelling, proving that home is something we carry and rebuild together.”

From the serie “A Fresh Story to Rewrite”

Claudia Dubon. She started her journey in Honduras.For seventeen years, Claudia worked there as a seamstress. But in sea...
05/17/2026

Claudia Dubon.

She started her journey in Honduras.

For seventeen years, Claudia worked there as a seamstress. But in search of a better life and a job to simply survive, she set out on a long bus ride through Mexico and crossed borders to reach the United States.

She arrived in Little Havana 9 years ago, and she has been weaving her story into this neighborhood ever since.

Today, her resilience blooms on the corner of 17th Avenue and Calle Ocho, where she sells flowers from 8.00 am to 11.00 pm. She kept her roots alive through the taste of “La Baleada”, yet her daily life is firmly rooted in these sidewalks.

When asked about the women here, she says they are “deeply, deeply hardworking”. She would know. She is one of them, and her greatest wish is that the Calle Ocho that welcomed her nearly a decade ago never disappears.

From the serie A Fresh Story to Rewrite.

This documentary photography project is an intimate, collective tribute to the identity of Little Havana, captured throu...
05/16/2026

This documentary photography project is an intimate, collective tribute to the identity of Little Havana, captured through the faces and voices of 100 women who sustain the soul of this neighborhood.

The work weaves together portraits with living memory, incorporating a questionnaire answered by each woman in her own handwriting. This personal gesture transforms the archive into an intimate, shared record, where their script is just as revealing as the image itself.

Alongside these human stories, the project captures the symbolic landscapes of the neighborhood, images of a Little Havana that resists losing its essence. It is a deep gaze into what people often look past, honoring a community that has fiercely preserved its idiosyncratic character, heritage, and memory across generations.

Maria Vasquez.She arrived from Mexico in 2004, crossing the border on foot with the goal of earning a living and findin...
05/13/2026

Maria Vasquez.

She arrived from Mexico in 2004, crossing the border on foot with the goal of earning a living and finding a better life.

She worked as a building janitor, always accompanied by her faith and her Virgin of Guadalupe.

For her the most valuable aspect of being a woman are motherhood, being a grandmother, and the dignity of hard work.

In Little Havana, her strongest link to her roots is the “Rinconcito Mexicano” restaurant. She fears the disappearance of the neighborhood and deeply misses the community traditions that once took place there, such as the Three Kings Day parade, as well as the memories of her hometown, Huizache.

From the serie A Fresh Story to Rewrite.

Maria Elena Sosa. 74 years old.Her son brought her here in 2005.She worked as a seamstress in Cuba at a haute couture w...
05/11/2026

Maria Elena Sosa. 74 years old.

Her son brought her here in 2005.

She worked as a seamstress in Cuba at a haute couture workshop on Reina and Velasco streets.

According to her, the women in Little Havana work harder than the men. She gets up every day at 6 am and starts sewing at 9 am until 4 pm for her clients.

She doesn’t want Little Havana’s way of life to disappear.

From the serie “A Fresh Story to Rewrite “

Cecibel Ortega.She arrived in Miami at 23, from El Salvador, pushed by poverty but carried by strength.Cecibel built h...
05/04/2026

Cecibel Ortega.

She arrived in Miami at 23, from El Salvador, pushed by poverty but carried by strength.

Cecibel built her life from very little, holding on to what mattered,her traditions, her food, her memories. Through her hands, pupusas and small rituals keep her history alive.

She still works every day.
She still shows up.

When she looks back, she remembers hardship, but also love, her grandmother making tortillas, the quiet foundation of who she is.

She doesn’t want Little Havana to disappear.
Because in it, her story still lives.

Women move forward.
Women endure.
Women find a way.

From the serie “A Fresh Story to Rewrite”

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