To promote a peaceful transition to a Cuba that respects human rights
and political and economic freedoms
"Alcántara, an artist in prison" exhibition opens. Poetry reading & vigil for jailed Cuban artists in NYC. Joint statement against censoring Cuban artists.
Yesterday, Friday, April 22nd at 6:30pm at The Art Space gallery in Miami premiered a new exhibition "Alcántara, an artist in prison" curated by Claudia Genlui. The exhibition is supported by Bacardi, El Espacio 23 and I've Been Framed.
Piece from the series ‘Puertas’ [Doors]; Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara (IMAGE Facebook / Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara)
It highlights some of the work of Cuban artivist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. Luis Manuel has been jailed since July 11, 2021, the day nonviolent protests broke out across Cuba. He is being held in the maximum security prison in Guanajay in Cuba. On April 7th it was learned that the dictatorship wants to condemn Luis Manuel to seven years in prison to silence him, and serve as a warning to others. His Crime? Defending artistic freedom in Cuba, and being one of the founders of the San Isidro Movement that was created for that purpose. This is why Amnesty International designated Luis Manuel a prisoner of conscience.
Other Cuban artists are jailed, and the international community is taking notice. Artists at Risk Connection made public a joint statement against the censorship of Cuban artists.
"65 organizations and 79 artists on April 21, 2022 shared a message of solidarity - launched by PAR - a protection network for at-risk artists in Latin America and the Caribbean - with Maykel “El Osorbo” Castillo Pérez, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, and all those who remain unjustly detained and charged for exercising their right to freedom of expression in Cuba."
On Thursday, April 21st, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection, together with PEN International, hosted a poetry reading and vigil in Times Square's Duffy Square (Broadway at 46th Street) in New York City, highlighting the plight of imprisoned artists in Cuba. It was held at an installation inspired by the late Cuban poet and Castro regime opponent Reinaldo Arenas.
Times Square Arts, described the artist who created the installation Raúl Cordero, and how Reinaldo Arenas served as an inspiration.
"In the center of Times Square’s urban landscape, Cuban-born artist Raúl Cordero creates an unexpected oasis — a 20-foot tower covered in a cascade of mountain laurel hosting an illuminated poem inside."... " Cordero’s project is also inspired by and dedicated to fellow Cuban and poet Reinaldo Arenas, an exile of the Cuban government who battled AIDS which led to death by suicide in 1990. As a child, Arenas would write poems while sitting in a tree, a pastime that inspired the height and foliage feel of Cordero’s installation. Arenas spent his final years as a creative in New York City, living only two blocks away from THE POEM’s location."
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