Street poems, 2021
Wood and photo-transfer, 40cm diameter.

Socialist sentences found in the streets of Havana join extracts of the Cuban Constitution and some images of the Caribean Sea, Playa de la Calle 16, in Miramar, district of Havana.

“…in Street Poems, the artist presents us with phrases from urban graffiti found on the streets of Havana such as “Trincheras de ideas valen más que trencheras de piedras” and “Brillamos com propia”, and overlays them with excerpts from the Cuban Constitution, sold in a newspaper for 1 CUC at various kiosks across the city. The first is a phrase by by José Martí, founder of the Cuban Revolutionary Party and a leader of Cuba’s War of Independence at the end of the 19th century. The second is a line from Pablo Milanés' “Canción por la Unidad Latinoamericana” (Song for Latin American Unity), whose final verses recall Latin American revolutionary leaders, Simón Bolívar, José Martí himself and Fidel Castro, in order to call for the unity of the continent:

*Translated to English from the Original: Lo que brilla con luz propia nadie lo puede apagar I Su brillo puede alcanzar la oscuridad de otras costas I Qué pagará este pesar del tiempo que se perdió I De las vidas que costó, de las que puede costar […] Bolívar lanzó una estrella que junto a Martí brilló I Fidel la dignificó para andar por estas tierras I Bolívar lanzó una estrella que junto a Martí brilló I Fidel la dignificó para andar por estas tierras.

“…in Street Poems, the artist presents us with phrases from urban graffiti found on the streets of Havana such as “Trincheras de ideas valen más que trencheras de piedras” and “Brillamos com propia”, and overlays them with excerpts from the Cuban Constitution, sold in a newspaper for 1 CUC at various kiosks across the city. The first is a phrase by by José Martí, founder of the Cuban Revolutionary Party and a leader of Cuba’s War of Independence at the end of the 19th century. The second is a line from Pablo Milanés' “Canción por la Unidad Latinoamericana” (Song for Latin American Unity), whose final verses recall Latin American revolutionary leaders, Simón Bolívar, José Martí himself and Fidel Castro, in order to call for the unity of the continent:

What shines with its own light no one can extinguish
Its brightness can reach the darkness of other shores
What will pay this regret for the time was lost
Of the lives it cost, of the lives it may cost

[...]

Bolivar launched a star that shone with Martí
Fidel dignified her to walk on these lands
Bolivar launched a star that shone with Martí
Fidel dignified her to walk on these lands

(extract of text by Maykson Cardoso)

*Translated to English from the Original: Lo que brilla con luz propia nadie lo puede apagar I Su brillo puede alcanzar la oscuridad de otras costas I Qué pagará este pesar del tiempo que se perdió I De las vidas que costó, de las que puede costar […] Bolívar lanzó una estrella que junto a Martí brilló I Fidel la dignificó para andar por estas tierras I Bolívar lanzó una estrella que junto a Martí brilló I Fidel la dignificó para andar por estas tierras.