The Weight of an Island in the Love of the People
The Weight of an Island in the Love of the People is an online exhibition of Cuban art launching today.
7 June - 7 August 2021 at www.florafairbairn.com
Curated by Flora Fairbairn & Co and Sachie Hernández, it features established and emerging artists including some of my favourites - @alejandrogonzalezmendez and @ariamnacontino
"The artists’ works have been chosen for their beauty and their poetic, political, historical, philosophical, social and ethical sensitivities," Fairbairn says.
Pictured: Untitled (Cuba, zero year, 2009-12) by Alejandro González from a series on Cuban adolescents born after 1990; 1972 (Quinquenio Gris, 2015) by Alejandro González; Poderes elípticos 1, 2019 by Diango Hernández
Featured artists: @abelbarretoolivera @liz_capote @ariamnacontino @odeycurbelo @mclaudiagr75 @alejandrogonzalezmendez @daniagonzalezsanabria.art @alexmiguelhernandezduenas @diango.hernandez @intihernandez @perezmonzongustavo @michelpoudiaz @pozocruz @irving_vera_chirino @vivesfranciscoalejandro
“Whether they are resident or non-resident on the island, Cuba informs these artists’ work, even if Cuba is not overt in their work,“ says Fairbairn.
Alejandro González’s Adolescents presents photogenic personalities in young, social media-influenced Cuban society, capturing urban tribes from skaters and emos to youths following metal or repartero - Cuban urban salsa. Mari Claudia García makes micro-investigations into societal power structures. Her Woven Bags examines the value of the artisanship of indigenous Mexico versus the fetishising nature of souvenir buying, a reference to the mainstream tourism culture at play in Cuba. Liz Capote’s subtle focus is on gender violence as an abstract projection within the multifarious context of global feminism, says Fairbairn.
The exhibition champions Cuban artists at a time of great difficulty on the island. The effects of the pandemic, the huge plummet in tourism, economic reform, the intensification of the US embargo on Cuba by the Trump presidency, are deeply impacting the 11-million strong population. Against this backdrop, a number of Cuban artists, creatives and activists on and off the island are calling for greater freedom of expression in Cuba.
Ten per cent of profits from sales will go to Akokán, a sociocultural community project based in Los Pocitos, an impoverished barrio of Havana.
@florafairbairn worked for @havanaclub 's Havana Cultura Visual Arts Project as creative advisor and has curated art exhibitions around the globe. This online exhibition is the inaugural project for her new art consultancy Flora Fairbairn & Co. @sachiehernandezmachin worked in Havana for the Servando Gallery, Center for the Development of Visual Arts, and Galería Continua. She is the founder and director of @lasindicalartproject
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