Nike Peterson is a non-traditional student returning to school to finish her photography degree after years away from the classroom. A hobbyist portrait shooter for years, she began professionally covering sports and events in 2023. The project “13 Days, 13 Stories” was photographed over the course of two weeks in Cuba with a SONY aR7ii camera body and SIGMA 24-70 f 2.8 lens.

Wrote Nike of her experience in Cuba:

“I found myself in the Cubans I met in all cities across the country. We have a shared humanity and life experience comprised of hopes, fears, and dreams even though our political, economic, and geographic drivers are vastly different. My interactions with Cubans mirrored those articulated by Marquette University law school student Jack McNally who recently spoke about how his own visit to Cuba and how personal interactions with the local population dispelled both his own misconceptions and those of the people he spoke to. “Cubans were quick to articulate their desire to learn about Americans and to teach us about Cubans…. The portrait of Cubans as a uniform group committed only to ideology and the party line is far too simplistic to describe my experience. Cuba was everything I didn’t expect it to be.”