Cathedral of Lust is a visually and conceptually charged series by Derbis Campos, located in the ruins of Playa del Chivo, a well-known gay cruising site on the eastern outskirts of Havana. The title itself evokes a powerful contradiction: by calling this marginal, decaying place a “cathedral,” Campos transforms it into a sanctuary for queer intimacy, ritual, and resilience. Here, desire and sexuality, often forced into secrecy, are elevated to something sacred and communal.

Campos’s photographs focus on the ephemeral murals and graffiti that once adorned the ruins, anonymous, collective expressions of longing, humor, and eroticism. These painted walls, now destroyed, are preserved only through the artist’s lens, underscoring the fragility of both queer spaces and the subcultural art that animates them. The interplay of light, shadow, and deteriorating architecture creates a gothic atmosphere, imbuing the site with reverence and transgression.

By titling the series Cathedral of Lust, Campos challenges the boundaries between the sacred and the profane, inviting viewers to see Playa del Chivo not as a site of shame but as a living testament to authenticity and resistance. The series is both documentary and elegy, a record of how marginalized communities transform ruins into sanctuaries, and how fleeting acts of creativity and desire can leave a lasting imprint, even as the physical traces disappear.

Within the history of contemporary and queer art, Campos’s work stands in dialogue with artists like Alvin Baltrop, who documented New York’s West Side piers as sanctuaries for queer life, and Miguel Ángel Rojas, who captured the coded rituals of cruising in Bogotá. Like these predecessors, Campos uses photography as an act of preservation and resistance, dignifying spaces and voices often erased from official histories.

Cathedral of Lust ultimately contributes to a lineage of contemporary artworks that document, dignify, and mourn the loss of alternative spaces and voices, using photography not just as a witness but as an act of cultural preservation and critique.

About the Artist:

Derbis Campos (Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban photographer and researcher based in Havana, Cuba. With a background in biochemistry and medical genetics, Campos became involved in the contemporary and outsider art scenes as a co-founder of Riera Studio and the Art Brut Project Cuba. His photographic work focuses on documenting marginalized communities and ephemeral cultural expressions, highlighting the resilience and creativity found on the fringes of Cuban society.