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.

Lake Forest College’s Madeleine P. Plonsker Collection of Con­temporary Cuban Photography comprises 170 pieces. The Light in Cuban Eyes is the first North American publication with support from the Cuban Ministry of Culture and Fototeca de Cuba, Cuba's repository of photography, comparable in function to the Smithsonian Photography Department in Washington, D.C.