I was shocked to learn a few days ago that my good friend Nestor Hernández passed away after a short bout with cancer. Hernández was a Washington, D.C.-based photographer of Afro-Cuban descent (Afro-Cuban father and African-American mother).

Raised in Washington, D.C., he didn't speak Spanish, but that didn't stop him from understanding it from his heart, and from visiting his father's enslaved homeland and re-discovering his Cuban roots via his photography, which he exhibited in many art venues, both in the D.C. area, nationally, and in Cuba, throughout the years.

Nestor was introduced to photography in high school through the Urban Journalism Workshop of the D.C. Public Schools, and then he was on the staff of the Capitol Children's Museum as photographer-in-residence for many years.

Hernandez then became the chief photographer for the D.C. Public School system, even as he continued to visit Cuba; he stared photography projects dealing with children in Ghana, and most recently Mali.

We exhibited Hernandez photographs as part of our gallery's grounbreaking De Aqui y de Alla (From Here and From There) survey of contemporary Cuban art from Cuba and from the Cuban diasphora and in several group shows after that.

His photographs have been included in many shows Washington, D.C. and various American cities, as well as in Havana, Cuba and Accra, Ghana, and his photographs are included in the permanent collections of the Casa de Africa Museum and Galería de Arte René Portocarrero in Cuba, Asafo Gallery in Ghana, the Cuban Art Space in New York and the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum in Washington, D.C.

He was a member and past president of FotoCraft Camera Club, and was the 2001 recipient of the "Photographer of the Year" award, given by the Exposure Group, African American Photographers Association. In 2002 he received the "Outstanding Emerging Artist" award, and in 2003 an Artist Fellowship Grant, both from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

With Port of Harlem, he developed the "Our Children, Our World" photography exhibit featuring the works of children from Ghana, Cuba, Washington, D.C., and Gary, Indiana. After a successful run in Washington, D.C., the exhibit opens in Gary later this summer, as an official event celebrating Gary's 100th anniversary.

This month, Nestor's photographs were included in the Arlington Art Center's Love, Loss and Longing: The Impact of U.S. Travel Policy on Cuban-American Families exhibit, which opened May 16 and runs through June 3, 2006. The exhibit features photos by Nestor Hernández, Jr. and Juan-Sí González and text by Drs. Jeanne Lemkau and David Strug. After it closes here, this exhibit will then tour nationally through the end of 2007.

He was a gentle man who didn't drive but who took busses everywhere, and who was once described as a "stealth photographer" for his ability to record the world around him (and people around him) without making a big fuss.

As with most artists, Hernández died with little money. He once turned down offers in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for publishing rights to a set of very intimate photos of Elian Gonzalez, simply because he had taken the photos for Gonzalez and his family (not for the press). Burial contributions are being accepted by his father.

We will all miss you hermano!