Go Home and May God be With You

In September 2021, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in Cuba, photographer Dany del Pino Rodríguez took photos of his father Juan del Pino and some objects that accompanied him during his hospitalization period. This photographic project “Go home and may God be with you,” would include the last photos that Rodríguez would take of his father. He died at home a few weeks later. According to the medical report, lung cancer killed him — and probably COVID-19 accelerated his death. But the malignant tumor was not the only cause; the indifference and the abhorrent policies of institutional bureaucracy also were responsible for his death.

The Covid-19 pandemic in Cuba came amid the country’s worst economic collapse in decades and has helped to exacerbate decades-long medicine shortages. Cuba — a Communist country where access to healthcare is considered a sacred right — faced one of the worst outbreaks of COVID-19 globally, which came as a shock to many on the island nation. The pandemic also happens within the wider context of the U.S trade embargo, which has made importing raw materials and finished medicine products difficult.

Juan del Pino was discharged from the Joaquín Albarrán hospital in Havana when his health was most fragile. He never received the care he needed, and he did not die with dignity. He was abandoned by the health institutions of his country — the same ones he trusted.

Nothing will be able to bring Rodríguez’s father back. But in materializing his life and death through photography, Rodríguez wants to bring attention and justice to him and many others that have suffered just like him, so that their deaths will not be in vain.

Dany del Pino Rodriguez

Dany del Pino Rodriguez is a documentary photographer born in Havana, Cuba in 1976. Since 2023, he has been a member of the Photographer Without Borders community. At the same time, he has been an Assistant Professor at the Technological University of Havana since 2012. There he teaches about photographic technique and methodology of photographic projects to architecture students.

His interest in photography started after he finished his veterinary studies in 2006. From then on, he attended multiple workshops linked to the photographic world and visual arts. In 2012, he obtained a diploma in Photographic Codes at the Cuban Institute of Art and Cinematographic Industry (ICAIC).

Dany del Pino has participated in several solo and collective exhibitions and his work has been exhibited locally and internationally in countries like Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, USA, England, Spain, Italy and Holland. His documentary work has also been published in print and digital magazines, such as Lens Magazine, Docu Magazine, Camera Owner and FotoArgenta. His photographs have also been published within Death in the Family book, a project developed by MechanicalSoft Press in Brooklyn, New York City.

He was one of the founders of the “F8 Photographic Group", an artistic collective that was active in Havana between 2011 and 2015. He also worked with 3stado Sólido, a visual artistic project in Havana. As part of his work in the educational field, he has collaborated with Circuito Líquido, a pedagogic and artistic project.

In 2016, Dany del Pino earned a special mention in the photo competition of Havana Times Magazine. In 2018, he won the Raul Corrales grant, the most important recognition the Fototeca of Cuba gives to Cuban photographers every year. That same year, he also received a special mention in the photo competition of the Water Integrity Network (WIN Photo Competition). In 2020, he was one of the winners of “In front of the Mirror '' a photo competition developed by CCEMiami.