I recently received a copy of Simone Lueck’s latest book, Cuba TV. Cuba is regularly referred to as one of the most photogenic countries on earth, a place where “you couldn’t throw your camera out the window without it capturing at least a fantastically colored blur.” Because of it’s characteristic colours and dilapidation, it can be quite difficult to photograph Cuba without taking pictures that end up looking like stills from Wim Wenders’ Buena Vista Social Club.

I was intrigued by Simone Lueck’s approach: she decided not to photograph Cuba’s lively streets or its smoky bars, not its street kids or its cigar-smoking octogenarians, but its televisions. Although the television remains ubiquitous in the West, its power has become diluted by the internet and the many electronic devices which provide us with our information and entertainment. In Cuba however, the TV still reigns supreme: it is always switched on, whether it is being watched or not. Lueck’s images are undeniably atmospheric, often colored by the hue of the television which has pride of place in people’s homes (ahead of Che Guevara or even Jesus and his disciples). The TVs themselves seem to have their own personalities; they are relics from a distant past… even the images frozen on these sets seem to be coming from several decades ago. However, I was left wanting something more in the end: as one TV gave way to another (which is understandable as these images were taken during a 2-week first-time visit to Cuba) the project felt a little bit one-note, as if these images were still scratching at the surface of their subject. One thing is for sure, if there is another Cuban revolution, it will definitely be televised.