Campus Poland for the Future 2023, a socio-political festival of the democratic opposition in Poland gathers intellectuals, artists, politicians and experts from all different areas. For the resistArt Gallery it was a unique space and audience comprised mostly of young Polish activists to talk loud about the independent artists in Cuba, the artists that have become the face of democratic opposition and protagonists of change. Also, we intended to, once again, remember the events of July 11, 2021 when Cubans from all over the island took the streets to protest against the regime. Lost of them paid a high price of this protest being arrested and sentenced to prison.
To the panel Art in resistance: Cuban artists in their fight for freedom that took place on on August 30, 2023 we invited Hamlet Lavastida, a former political prisoner and Cuban independent artist, and Maciej Stasinski, a journalist of the Polish daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza that specialized in Latin America, the author of books on Cuba and the Cuban opposition. Banned by the Cuban regime to travel to the island due to his contact with the democratic opposition.
Thanks to Hamlet’s testimony, as well as Maciej Stasiński introduction to the socio-political situation in Cuba, young Poles could learn how difficult it is to create art and keep your autonomy under conditions of pervasive censorship and repression.
The panel was moderated by Patrycja Satora, the co-founder of resistArt Gallery. The gallery represents artists who experience various forms of repression: restrictions on creative freedom and civil liberties, or economic and political violence in their countries, and their art is a form of resistance to the imposed restrictions.
By supporting both young and recognized artists and the causes they fight for, we want to raise awareness about the problems of Latin American societies, and to show that freedom is a fundamental value for all of us regardless of where we live.
