Liset Gutiérrez Cruz was awarded the Vespertino 2025 Prize, organized in Italy, at the end of last year. With her works Óbito fetal and Quimeras, she won first place in the digital photography category.
Óbito fetalThis award encourages the young woman's career, who has also won other important awards. In conversation with 26, the visual artist said, “I saw the call for entries on the internet and decided to join. I was the only Cuban in the competition. I am very happy with the result, as it encourages me to create more and perfect my work.”
These proposals reaffirm the artist's interest in addressing sensitive issues such as motherhood and gender violence through her lens, one of her work's obvious features.
That is not the only accolade with which Liset ended the past calendar year, as she won the El reino de este mundo creation scholarship (The Kingdom of this World), sponsored by the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS in Spanish), and was included in the Noviembre Fotográfico national festival (Photographic November), with an international collective of women who cultivate this art, of which she is a part.
At this latter event, together with colleagues from Argentina, Spain, and Mexico, she signed the exhibition Miradas reveladas (Revealed Views), which she said was well received by the public. “It was very important for me to be involved in this event, one of the most relevant of its kind in the country,” she said.
Quimeras
With new projects on the agenda related to motherhood and gender violence in general, she began 2026 with her “batteries charged.” For Liset, a member of the AHS, "photography is not simply the act of capturing reality through a photo; it goes beyond that relationship between the moment and the creator. Through this art, you can express everything that sometimes cannot be said with words.
"It also announces, supports, or denounces issues that are sometimes silenced. In addition, it acts as a reference, leaving a testimony of times, people, behaviors... I have been able to narrate through the lens aspects related to pregnancy and the processes of coexistence between mothers and children.
“In addition, I am a bit of a minimalist when it comes to representing a composition. I use precise elements as symbols, and I try to create and recreate a narrative from the scenery, so that each image is unique, different, and contributes to the final message.
Photography is the medium where I can express myself and truly be myself.”
