CUBA HONOURS AFRICA THROUGH ART

African Stream recently touched down in Cuba, where we met with Afro-Cuban artist Emilio O'Farrill Almendáriz. He runs an art studio and gallery in the city of Matanzas through his project, AfroArte. He aims to defend and promote Cuba's African heritage through artistic expression.

The gallery is located in the Castle of San Severino, a fort created during the Spanish colonial period to defend western Cuba from attack. However, the fort converted into a prison, where the colonial administration executed rebellious enslaved Africans and the US-backed right-wing dictatorship executed Cuban revolutionaries. Today, the site is dedicated to the historical memory of slavery and education about the role of Africans in creating the Cuban state, as Matanzas was, at one point, the centre of Cuba's sugar production fueled by slave labour. Traders dropped off more Africans in Matanzas than in other western Cuban cities. The African presence in Matanzas increased exponentially after the Haitian revolution, as countries refused to purchase sugar from liberated Haiti, and Cuba spiked its import of kidnapped Africans to take Haiti's spot as the top sugar producer at the time.

African Stream’s Inemesit Richardson participated in a delegation from the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)—comprised of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. In Cuba, they learned that Africa's cultural roots run deep on the island and that the revolution made African heritage essential to Cuba's national identity. The delegation witnessed how the revolutionary government attempts to rectify the historical injustices birthed through the slave trade and addressed the value of African life.

The artist can be followed on Instagram via instagram.com/emilioofarrill and on Facebook at facebook.com/emilioofarrillalmendariz. Follow the museum: facebook.com/CastilloSanSeverino

SOURCES:

https://eap.bl.uk/project/EAP060
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6748/
Most of the information came from our tour guide at the museum in Cuba