The Abakua Secret Society is a photo essay that belongs to my long-term project entitled The Island about Cuban society, its culture and its changes in the last decades.
2018-In Process
The Abakua Secret Society is the only one of its kind on the America continent and is almost two hundred years old. It is a brotherhood exclusively for men where one must prove to be «macho» and affeminate conduct, as well as cowardice or weakness are taboo. Some of its members are linked to marginality and delinquency, but there are also members of the military, professionals, intellectuals and artists. It has always been very closed and secretive, but the new generation, unlike their elders, speak openly about being abakua because it gives them status and power in their neighbourhoods.
