In 2002, art collector and philanthropist Madeleine P. Plonsker began traveling to Cuba to uncover Havana’s thriving art scene. The Light in Cuban Eyes: Lake Forest College’s Madeleine P. Plonsker Collection of Contemporary Cuban Photography focuses on Cuban photography between 1992 and 2012. These years cover Cuba’s “Special Period,” a desperate time resulting from the withdrawal of financial support from the former Soviet Union that continues to present day.

The fifty artists represented in this bilingual book—including Juan Carlos Alom, Adrián Fernández Milanés, Marta María Pérez Bravo, Cirenaica Moreira, and Glenda León—shoot their worlds in styles ranging from fabulist to gritty. This is world-class work, yet the artists are often known only to the small population of collectors fortunate enough to have traveled to this tightly restricted country, or through art world reputations that have only recently started to expand beyond the island.