Cuba Material collection · Colección Cuba Material

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Hand-made ID card holder (sleeve) made from X-ray film and tape

Object/Artifact

A hand-made flat sleeve or pocket for holding an identity card, rectangular in form, constructed from repurposed radiographic (X-ray) film bound with adhesive tape. The film provides the translucent, milky blue-white body of the sleeve — its cloudy, speckled, faintly mottled appearance is characteristic of processed and cleared X-ray sheet film. Two opaque blue strips of tape run down the left and right edges, forming the bound side seams that join two layers of film into an open-topped pocket; the tape edges carry a fine metallic-looking line and now show tarnish-like discoloration, corrosion, and flaking with age. The lower edge is open to receive a card; a short recessed slot appears to ease insertion and removal of the card. The object shows age-related wear — surface spotting, clouding, adhesive degradation along the taped seams — and is empty (no card present).

2025.1.105

The Cabrera Arús family collection

2025.1

Materials Repurposed radiographic (X-ray) film — a polyester or cellulose-acetate film base bearing a processed (cleared) photographic emulsion; adhesive tape (blue, with metallic-look edge) forming the bound seams.

Fair

Gertrudis Caraballo Gálvez

owner

Havana

Cuba

Caribbean

Central America

use, production

A hand-made personal accessory for protecting an identity card, fabricated from repurposed X-ray film and tape. The object is a vivid example of the collection's central themes of ingenuity, reuse, and resolver — the Cuban practice of making do and improvising from salvaged materials in conditions of scarcity. Spent X-ray films were a recognized "found" material in Cuba, valued for being durable, flexible, water-resistant, and free, and were reused for a range of improvised items. (X-ray film's best-known Cuban reuse is as a medium for bootlegged music recordings, but the same sheet stock served many everyday improvised purposes such as this.)