El Libro Supremo de la Suerte, a book published by TIS in 2018, gathers photographs I made in Havana over a span of seven years. The title translates as “The Supreme Book of Luck” and refers to photocopied booklets used to navigate the covert lottery in Havana. Cubans refer to these booklets, or charadas, to match everyday objects they see to numbers they play. The meanings of different objects can be straightforward (85 is “clock”), mystical (60 is “dark sun”), or idiosyncratic (98 is “old prostitute”). I found parallels between this intentional look at everyday things to the way I make images. A turtle on the sidewalk,
a can of red paint — these simple moments became monumental when I photographed them.

I came of age in Havana, not only as a person, but also an artist. This work is an homage to my experience of a specific geography. I am honoring the symbols and occurrences that have shaped my understanding of a place and a time in my life. I documented my relentless search for intimacy and spirituality, while navigating the politics of my presence in Cuba, as a photographer and ultimately as an outsider.

This book exemplifies my practice of describing a place by enmeshing myself in the local culture. I disavow any sense of objectivity and am guided by a lucid understanding that a photographer is as much part of what she depicts as the elements or people in front of the lens. Paula Kupfer, a frequent collaborator writes of my work: “In exploring the visual
connections between numbers — exact and absolute units of measurements — and the
mystical, wayward ways of luck, as embodied by friends and family performing for her camera, Cromwell offers a lyric homage to Cuba, the place that’s shaped her practice and that, moreover, continues defying expectations and interpretations.”