Steven Daiber

For over 40 years my work begins with the quiet observation of the environment that I live in or visit. Living in rural Massachusetts for 32 years has given me a broad canvas to observe and engage with the landscape through site-specific book installations and nature prints. Working outside with paper, pencil, and ink while using found materials as the matrix has informed my work. The individual plant and animal woodcuts I make are talismans of the land created though observation, collecting, imprinting, and collaging across years of exploration.

For 20 years Cuba was the primary focus of my work. Starting in 2001 my family and I have traveled to Cuba annually for 2 weeks to 1 year. In Havana I have worked in 8 different print shops with Cuban printmakers. The book collaborations I developed in Cuba reflect the troubled politics between our two countries and the toll it takes on the individual Cuban. Stories of lives helps to dispel the initial mystery and deepens a familiarity through creating a comradery with people when documenting the history of the area in the moment witnessed.

This process of observation and visual story telling has been honed during the repeated visits to Havana. It is these skills I now bring with renewed interest to the stories I find within the debased landscape of climate crisis.