From prison, where he has been in the last five months, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara continues to draw and this week the artistic studio that represents him made public some of his works from the series Clowns.
“They are portraits. Almost self-portraits. Combining all the colors that he has been able to gather, he is shaping a gallery of emotions, minimal variations where human nature is recreated, the most basic and visceral that accompanies us all”, this is how the series presents la art curator Anamely Ramos in the web where it is exhibited:
Otero Alcántara, founder of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. The maximum security prison where he is being held is located in Guanajay (Artemisa province) and, after a few unsuccessful attempts, the artist managed to get him a notebook and two crayons on each visit from his family.
“The guards look astonished at the joy with which he receives these orders. They are treasures. But it is not enough for the artist and he begins to sew the cigar boxes to continue drawing. Everything that falls into his hands will do”, add post. According to Ramos, the artist draws without being able to leave the cell, “sunbathing once a day, looking at the sky through a small window.”
Some of the drawings in the series have short phrases and others recall “previous passages” from his life.
Some of the drawings in the series have short phrases and others recall “previous passages” from his life: “In the Valley only sparrows are free,” says one, referring to March 2020, when he was detained for 13 days in the Valle Grande prison.
“Between the two prisons, little more than a year passed, and a country changed. Luis knows it. His clowns are the melancholic but courageous face of a country that is costing its life change. Clowns are the face of a painful and great childbirth, in which we are all involved, “says Ramos, who concludes the text by stating:” His clowns today are portraits of a homeland that is drowning, that screams, and still manages to convey hope. “
This week, the MSI denounced that the prison authorities they blocked phone calls to Otero Alcántara and that the artist was living under a lot of pressure. “He has seborrheic dermatitis and although we have been able to reach him with some medications, the state of stress he is in and the uncertainty have not yet allowed them to act effectively,” said the family through a statement released by the MSI.
Otero Alcántara was arrested on July 11 when he tried to participate in the peaceful demonstrations that took place in Havana. The crimes that are included in his file and for which he is being accused are aggravated contempt, instigation to commit a crime and public disorder. An accusation is also pending for crimes of outrage to national symbols, a case that has been open since 2020 due to performance Drapeau.
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