Ernesto Bazan was born in Palermo, on the island of Sicily in Italy in 1959.
He received his first camera when he was 14 years old and began photographing daily life in his native city and in the rural areas of Sicily. Photography has been more than a profession: a true passion, a mission in his life.
At the age of 19, he went to New York to study photography at the School of Visual Arts from where he graduated in 1982.
Bazan has published several books: The Perpetual Past, Passing Through, The First Twenty Years, Island, Molo Nord.
In 2008, his recently created publishing house BazanPhotos Publishing recently released his new book BazanCuba on 14 years of life and photography on the island. In May 2009, the book was awarded Best Book Of The Year at the New York Photo Festival. His next book Al Campo, an in-depth exploration in color of life in the Cuban countryside, was published in 2011 by BazanPhotos Publishing. Isla, the final book in the Cuba Trilogy was published in 2014 and represents the last part of his unexpected photographic personal journey. It is the ultimate expression of love affair and a final goodbye to the island that he loved so much and that completely changed his life.
He has had exhibitions in Europe, Latin America and the United States. His photographs have been collected by collectors and museums among which MOMA and ICP in New York, SFMOMA in San Francisco, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Durham, the South East Museum of Photography in Daytona, the Fondazione Italiana della Fotografia in Turin, the Biblioteque Nationale in Paris and the Musée Réattu in Arles.
From 1992 to 2006, he lived and photographed the island of Cuba documenting the unique time in Cuban history called The Special Period. This body of work has given him the privilege to win some of the world most prestigious photographic awards among them The W. Eugene Smith grant; the Mother Jones Foundation for Photojournalism, the Dorothea Lang Paul Taylor prize at Duke University, N.C., the World Press Photo and two fellowships from the Alicia Patterson Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation.
In 2002, Ernesto Bazan created his own photographic workshop www.bazanphotosworkshops.com providing special emphasis in Latin America. Teaching has become his ruling passion. Hundreds of students have studied with him in the last ten years.
He lives with his wife Sissy, his twin boys Pietro and Stefano and their three dogs Diva, Ono and Akamaru in Veracruz, Mexico.
Ernesto Bazan’s work is represented by Sous Les Etoiles Gallery in New York City where collectors can purchase silver gelatin prints from his Cuban trilogy.
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