The girl in the picture, resplendent in her ruffled pink dress, with a pink convertible to match, is celebrating her quinceañera, a Latin American tradition marking the passage from girlhood to womanhood upon turning 15. In Cuba, many families save up from their daughter’s birth to be able to afford a party whose fantastical glamour is at odds with their everyday reality. This image, taken in Havana in 2018 by the American-Armenian photographer Diana Markosian, brings that contrast into sharp relief.
Markosian was at a salon in Havana when she met the girl’s mother, who invited her to the party the following day. Along with her assistant and producer, who were helping her to document local coming-of-age traditions, Markosian took a taxi to the outskirts of the city, where she found the street lined with hundreds of people. “I thought I was going to a party,” she recalls. “I didn’t expect all of Havana to be there.”
It wasn’t just the economic factor that brought poignancy to the occasion, though that was hard to ignore: quinceañeras cost thousands of dollars in a country where the average monthly salary is about $20. Before the celebration, Markosian learned that the girl, Pura, had a brain tumour. In fact, Pura’s family had marked her quinceañera two years earlier by making a photobook, as doctors hadn’t expected her to live beyond 13.
Markosian photographed Pura in her bedroom and then getting into the car en route to the party. “It was precious,” she says. “It wasn’t just a celebration of turning 15; it was a celebration of this woman’s life, and everyone was there to witness it.”
The series won first prize at the 2019 World Press Photo contest. Markosian didn’t know what had become of Pura until a year ago, when she went back to Havana to search for her. When she finally located the house, she learned that Pura was alive and receiving treatment in the US. Her 15th birthday hadn’t been her last, as everyone had feared. Her life still stretches out before her, uncertain but lined with well-wishers.
Entries for the 2026 World Press Photo contest can be submitted from 1 December to 17 January