MADRID, Spain.- The exhibition “Alcántara, artist imprisoned in Cuba”, dedicated the leader of the San Isidro Movement, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, was inaugurated this Friday at The Art Space gallery in Miami.
The exhibition was curated by Claudia Genlui, partner of Otero Alcántara, and who in November 2021 moved part of the artist’s works to Miami.
About the exhibition, Genlui had explained to the digital publication Rialta: “Perhaps it is a possibility to understand his essence as an artist, but also to connect with the pain of many Cubans, with that need for change and freedom that suffocates us.”
“The Cuban government makes an effort to make invisible and discredit the work of those artists who take open critical positions. This strategy of disrepute is impossible to counteract in a country whose gallery spaces respond only to the interests of the Government. Hence the need to transcend national boundaries and show the world the cultural value of artists like Luis Manuel”, he added.
The rapper Raudel Collazo, a friend of Luis Manuel Otero told Radio Television Marti during the inauguration: “There are images here that are very strong. It makes me very sad above all things because I know Luisma and because I know the situation she finds herself in. She makes me very sad in a general sense because of everything that Cubans are going through, because of everything that political prisoners are going through.”
For her part, the activist Anamely Ramos manifested: “Here is everything a person would need to know to understand what is happening in Cuba.”
The event has the support of the Bacardí Family Foundation, El Espacio 23, the Cuban-born businessman Jorge Pérez, and the I’ve Been Framed project, which shared a video of the inauguration through Instagram.
The exhibition includes some of the latest drawings made by Otero Alcántara in prison; as well as some of his most significant pieces from sculptures, through drawings, to his performances.
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was arrested on July 11, 2021 in the vicinity of the Hotel Sevilla, in Havana, during the anti-government protests that took place that day.
Currently, the artist faces a tax request for seven years of deprivation of liberty for the alleged crimes of aggravated contempt, public disorder and instigation to commit a crime.
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