“In 2005, I started getting interested in social topics and people,” Alejandro González has said. “I was seeing what was happening in society, and I was feeling that I was not participating.” A night creature himself at age 31, Alejandro González began with a candid look at youth culture in the wee hours of the morning along Havana’s 23rd Street, a hub of nightlife. Using a Rolleiflex camera, with its square format and characteristically low vantage point, his method was straightforward, and his pictures—almost always made with the permission of his subjects—felt undeniably authentic.

“En 2005, empecé a interesarme por los temas sociales y las personas”, comenta Alejandro González. “Observaba lo que sucedía en la sociedad y sentía que no participaba”. A los 31 años, siendo él mismo un noctámbulo, comenzó a documentar, durante la madrugada, la cultura juvenil a lo largo de la vibrante calle 23 de La Habana. Usando una cámara Rolleiflex, con su formato cuadrado y su característico ángulo bajo, operaba sin rodeos. Sus fotografías —casi siempre tomadas con el permiso de los sujetos— resultan innegablemente auténticas.