90 Miles is an AI reporting illustration experiment exploring historical events and realities of Cuban life that have motivated Cubans to cross the 90 miles of ocean separating Havana from Florida.
Since 1961, not long after Fidel Castro came to power and after the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, every year thousands of Cubans cross the 90 miles of ocean that separates Havana from Florida.
In 2022, Cuba experienced its largest exodus since the 1980s due to an ongoing economic crisis, with soaring inflation alongside shortages of food and medicine.
The Cubans who attempt the crossing are incredibly resourceful, as necessary to the journey and as reflected in rafts often assembled from inner tubes, pieces of wood and plastic, household supplies, etc.
For over 25 years, MCB kept a list of subjects he desired to document though was unable to, mainly due to access.
While working in Cuba from 2014-2016, he added more subjects to the list, including the story of 90 Miles, with the assumption they would likely never be created.
Publications have long used reportage illustrations to illuminate stories in fresh ways, and 90 Miles may reflect a novel way to translate narratives into photographic looking imagery, connecting people with important stories of our time.
Anyone may now create photorealistic reportage illustrations on any subject anywhere, at any time, collaborating with a collective history of photography to illustrate the photographed world and create a vision of what was, is or can be.
This imagery has not been edited, in any way, post generation.
