Asela Torres is a professional photographer known for documenting the “golden age” of theater in Miami. Torres was born in Havana, Cuba to a middle-class family. Her father was a carpenter and worked on the railroad system of Havana, her mother took care of the home, and she had a younger brother. Although her parents were not artists, her cousin Vicente was a photographer.
Torres originally went to study medicine but ended up studying photography with a professor who taught art in his home and was a neighbor of Torres in the area of Havana called Lauton Batista. He encouraged Torres to join the classes after observing her watching from her patio. At 15 years old, Torres began to learn to “iluminar fotos” or, create an image in sepia from black and white film and then treat the photos with a special linseed oil linaza preparation. After it set, the photos would be colored with transparent oil paints. Torres was enchanted with this work and learned to process, develop, and print images from film. She mastered techniques in lighting, contrast, density, and more in the dark room and was taught in-studio photography. At age 17, Torres went out into the street with a 35 mm camera to take photographs. She also photographed birthday parties, which she said was very difficult to capture photos of the children, especially using the portable lightbulb flash. During that time, Torres photographed children’s development and growth for their families and became very interested in their gestures and mannerisms. She had a dark room in her bathroom in her small house in Havana and earned a certificate from the Colegio Nacional de Fototequinica de la Habana. Torres loved doing street photography because she learned a lot about light and compositional and attention to surroundings, although her mother was not always happy with her being out in the street or staying late at events. When taking photos of weddings, people were often surprised at Torres since she was such a young woman professional photographer. Due to her work of taking photos for baby albums, she got referred by word of mouth and many of her clients had connections to the “Farandula,” or Showbiz. She photographed shows and performers at venues like A Capaela and the famous nightclub Tropicana.
In 1959, when the revolution came, she wasn’t able to do the exhibit at the Hilton of the photography of children that she planned. In 1960, Torres began thinking about how to leave Cuba. Her father was a member of the Popular Socialist Party prior to 1959 and his ideology resulted in Torres not being allowed to attend paid private schools and had a frugal childhood. She foresaw the material hardships that would fall on Cuba under Castro. Torres took photographs in Havana of the unrest during the Batista regime leading up to the Revolution. She also notes that she went to secondary school with Camilo Cienfuegos. After the revolution a friend of Torres returned to Havana from the Sierra Maestra, and warned her not to sign any papers or do anything that would undermine her chances to leave the island.
In 1965, when she was asked to act as a watch for the Comite de Defensa, she refused to put on a uniform and was punished by having to clean the rice and pick out the worms from it. She avoided involvement with the communist party as much as possible.
In 1968, Torres was able to leave Cuba for Spain, although she was afraid of being detained at the airport in Havana for not having proof that she participated in laborial work for the Comite de Defensa. She left with only her clothes on her back like many other Cuban exiles. One of her friends met her in Madrid upon her arrival and picked her up at the airport in Varajes. In Spain, she lived in a rented room near the Plaza de las Ventas and got by working in an inn and other odd jobs. One day a visitor at the inn gave her a camera, which she brought to the U.S. with her. She spent three years in Spain and then got married in Miami to another Cuban exile who she knew from her youth who she met while he was visiting with a group from the U.S. She was encouraged to leave Spain for Miami by Aurora Collazo the actress.
In 1971, Torres finally arrived in Miami, her friends came to the airport to receive her. She was supported financially throughout the past by her friend who was a manager of the restaurant Versailles and offered her employment there. Without knowing much English, Torres worked in a cafeteria called Long’s in Coconut Grove. However, she was insistent in pursuing her career as a photographer and wouldn’t settle for less.
In the 1970’s-1980’s, through connection with Alfonso Cremata, Torres began to take photos of theater events in Miami. Unlike in Cuba, in the U.S. Torres encountered much difficulty being taken seriously as a professional photographer as a young woman. At a party, she ran into a childhood friend who had a connection to an advertising company. Torres began to work in the dark room for the advertising company Creative Directors. She worked there for 25 years. Working there, she was able to start cultivating her career as a professional photographer and worked for the publication “Estrella de Puerto Rico” doing interviews with artists for 14 years.
In Cuba, Torres was always involved in theater and took photos there, but in Miami she became even more involved in the theater and that became her specialty as a photographer. She would accompany the actress Aurora Collazo to venues such as the theater Las Mascaras, where she would then take photos. She was seen as a amatuer at first, but her career took off when starting to work with newspapers and journals as Miami correspondent for Estrella. This opened doors in making connections with artists as well as being part of the team and vice-president of La Asociación Crítico Comentarista de las Artes (LACA.) or, the Association of Commentators and Critics of the Arts. This organization would give out annual prizes in literature, painting, photography, and more. The judges were mostly university professors from FIU and other institutions. In a team directed by Josefina Rubio, a group including Torres would go to all of the theater productions in Miami. Torres was impressed by the quality of theater that she encountered in the Cuban exile Miami despite lack of resources and the ongoing diaspora situation. She says that the Golden Age of theater in Miami started in 1974, when there were countless venues such as Las Máscaras en Calle 8, which opened in 1973, Repertorio Español which opened in 1976, Teatro Comunitario, Teatro Martí, La Danza, Teatro America, Teatro Bellas Artes, and so on. During this time the quality of the actors and works done were impressive as a whole movement.
As a professional photographer, Torres expresses the regret that she would have liked to photographed the Pope and also work more with nature photography and capturing different aspects of light.
Torres leaves a tremendous legacy of work and cites how important it is for the new generation to know that there was good theater and there was culture in Miami: “Y dejar un legado como este es decir para nueva generación para que aprendan que aquí a través de los años a pesar de todas las cosas y las consecuencias que hemos tenido los cubanos aquí hemos tenido mucho tropiezo hemos triunfado y las metas lo hemos logrado.” (And leave a legacy for the new generation to learn that through the years despite all of the issues and consequences that Cubans have faced, through many impediments and difficulty, we have triumphed and achieved a great deal).
