On February 23 – 25 , 2023 in Madrid resistArt gallery inaugurated its activity with the collective exhibition of contemporary Cuban and Spanish artists Las Mieles, during the second edition of Foro Intemperie: Art, Politics and Obsession.
Las Mieles talks about being able to adapt and embark on a path in that place. The title comes from Cuban jargon: to dar las mieles [lit. to give honeys] means to give power to someone. We are out of Cuba, but trying to continue our projects, our lives and be heard
Foro Intemperie, a cyclical cultural event about art, society and human rights in Cuba, this time was dedicated to contemporary Cuban art in an international context, and so Las Mieles revolved around the subject of immigration.
The curator of Las Mieles exhibition, Solveig Font, a Cuban independent artist and curator, explained her motivation: “Since I arrived in Spain I have been thinking a lot about issues related to emigration, and when the opportunity to do this exhibition arose, I immediately connected with that idea: how one has to be deconstructed in order to be formed and settled in a new place. As a person living in exile I had to adapt to so many things, processes, confrontations, fear, pain, worries”.
The last year was the largest outflow of Cubans from the island in the history of Cuba. This deeply-rooted humanitarian crisis is a result of systematic degeneration of the regime, the collapse of education, health care, culture and economy, and of continuous repressions of Cuban people which intensified after the anti-government demonstrations in July 2021. The government’s response was mass arrests, followed by long prison sentences. Among those imprisoned were independent artists who have been opposing human rights violations and restrictions on freedom in Cuba for a long time.
“The idea that came to mind when I began to prepare the exhibition was a place to be – what is this place that we are looking for? For me it does not necessary have to be a physical one, but mental, emotional, abstract.” Las Mieles talks about being able to adapt and embark on a path in that place. The title comes from Cuban jargon: to dar las mieles [lit. to give honeys] means to give power to someone. We are out of Cuba, but trying to continue our projects, our lives and be heard”. Las Mieles exhibition gives this voice to artists who show their power through art.
The Cuban artists featured in the exhibition were Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Julio Llópiz Casal, Lester Álvarez, Kiko Faxas, Hamlet Lavastida, Tania Bruguera, Raychel Carrión, the Mujercitos Collective, Juan Miguel Pozo, Camila Lobón and Sandra Ceballos.
All Spanish artists presented during the exhibition are somehow connected with Cuba – Cristina Garrido, Tamara Arroyo and Jimena Kato, were winners of the Artist x Artist residency in different years in Cuba, while Claudia Claremi, studied at Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana and at the International Film School of San Antonio de los Baños.
Photos: Alfonsina Ponce Tessone
On the photo: a work of Camila Lobón, El país perdido, 2019; sculpture book.
On the photo: A work of Luís Manuel Otero Alcántara, from the series: Los héroes no pesan, 2011; Sculpture of wood and metal, 73 x 30 x 20 cm. In the background, the work of Collective Mujercitos.
On the photo: A work of Sandra Ceballos, Voy a estar donde el necio te ponga el dedo (dedicada a mi ángel de la guarda), 2021; Oil on canvas; 122 x 216 cm. In a foreground, the artists: Lester Alvarez and Julio Llopiz Casal.
Lester Alvarez Meno
The series: Alfabeto, 2023
Watercolor pencil, collage and photogram of 35mm on paper
Hamlet Lavastida
Aquí todo el mundo censura, 2023
Cut-out paper
100 cm x 70 cm