“Cigars! Photography, Industry, and Identity in Ybor City” at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts
Travel back in time with the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts’ celebratory exhibition “Cigars! Photography, Industry, and Identity in Ybor City.” On April 13, 1885, cigar production launched in Ybor City with the rolling of its first cigar. To commemorate this significant event, FMoPA partnered with Tampa’s J.C. Newman Cigar Factory and the Burns Collection & Archive in New York to offer a rare glimpse into the origins of cigar making in Ybor City.
Vintage photographs highlight the global reach of the cigar industry and the communities of cigar rollers — Cubans, Italians and Spaniards — whose expertise placed Tampa on the map as “The Cigar Capital of the World.” This unique exhibition presents photographs from the 19th and early 20th centuries from the Burns Collection alongside present-day images of Ybor City’s remaining cigar factories by contemporary photographer Zack Wittman. Viewed together, “Cigars”! bridges Ybor City’s past and present through art and community pride.
Joanna Robotham is the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Tampa Museum of Art.
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