Photographers

Mario Algaze (1947–2022) was a celebrated Cuban-American photographer whose work offers a poetic and deeply personal portrait of Latin American life. Born in Havana and exiled to Miami at age thirteen, Algaze developed a lifelong connection to Latin America that shaped his artistic vision. A self-taught photographer who briefly studied art at Miami Dade College, he began his career in 1971 as a freelance photojournalist working for national and international publications.

Throughout the 1970s and beyond, Algaze traveled extensively across Central and South America, producing the atmospheric black-and-white photographs for which he became known. His imagery captures everyday scenes—streets, cafés, plazas, and marketplaces—rendered with meticulous composition and masterful darkroom printing. Curators have praised his work for its cinematographic quality and its expansive, non-touristic view of the Spanish-speaking world.

In addition to photographing musicians such as Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney early in his career, Algaze directed Gallery Exposures in Coral Gables from 1979 to 1981, helping to establish fine-art photography in Florida. His contributions were recognized with numerous honors, including the Florida Artist Fellowship, the Cintas Foundation Fellowship, and the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Photography.

Algaze published several important monographs—including “A Respect for Light: The Latin American Photographs”—and his work is held in major museum collections worldwide, from the Museum of Fine Arts Houston to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Until his passing in 2022, he remained a vibrant figure in the South Florida arts community, leaving behind a profound visual record of Latin American culture and identity.