Beyond the Embargo: Cuban Art

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro’s rise to power, a period of drastic cultural and political change in the island nation’s history. Marking this occasion, The Boston Printmakers, an artists’ association at Emmanuel College, are presenting an exhibition titled “Making Connections: Contemporary Cuban Printmakers.” Since early October and continuing through Sunday at The Laconia Gallery in Boston, the exhibition showcases prints by over 90 contemporary Cuban artists.

Though a few of the featured artists live in the United States, most of them still reside in Cuba. Cuban artists lack the exposure of many other artists because they cannot ship their pieces into the United States due to the business, travel, and financial restrictions that result from the embargo enacted during the Kennedy era. Many of the pieces on display could only enter the country accompanied by someone returning from Cuba.

“They’re wonderful artists,” explains one of the exhibition’s curators, Marjorie Javan. “It’s a tiny little island and the amount of artistic energy is unbelievable.” Though nearly all of the artists have had formal training (according to Javan, “Maybe a handful are self-taught”) many have to contend with a severe lack of artistic supplies and, therefore, must improvise. Once Cuba lost the financial support of the Soviet Union, according to Javan, some artists were forced to use kitchen linoleum for the lack of printing material more suited to artistic purposes. These multifaceted artists display talents in a wide array of media including etchings, woodcuts, and lithographs. “They all seem to do a little bit of everything,” Javan notes.

Pieces in the exhibit offer perspectives on pain, escape, truth, or humor. One print, Sandra Ramos’ “The Damned Circumstances of Water Everywhere,” depicts a near-naked woman lounging in a shape identical to the island nation. The piece depicts the close connection between the artists and their homeland as well as, the title implies, the isolation that some of the country’s artists might feel. Another of the exhibition’s pieces, Belkis Ayon’s “Resurrection,” shows a head with only two piercing eyes and an “X” covering the mouth, reflecting the stifled and stifling environment in which many of these artists live.

Javan believes that the exhibition has been very successful, noting in particular how college students have reacted to the pieces: “Some [Boston University] students who came to the show said, ‘You know, that show really taught us something.’” She speculates that the potency of the exhibit stems from its directness. “It inspires as to what else you can do with printmaking,” she says. The exhibition’s exploration of the nature of life in Cuba today also helps lend it educational value.

The exhibition has an important ability to inform the Boston area about lesser-known artists who have little opportunity or ability to publicize themselves. Additionally, Javan says, “Something like this isn’t going to come around for a while,” again citing restrictions on Cuban artists’ mobility and ability to introduce their artwork into America. “Making Connections: Contemporary Cuban Printmakers” offers an opportunity to engage with a culture that rarely gets publicized in America from a new perspective. “We’re bringing exposure to these wonderful artists. Boston is an international community,” Javan says. “It’s important for the art community to see what goes on outside their borders.”