I think that a magnificent sightseeing tour of the City of Pinar del Río, Cuba, could be a guided tour of each of its murals. It is something that is really striking there and the times I have visited that city, Vueltabajera, as it is commonly known, I am always very struck by those colorful walls that convey some messages.
As it turns out, I've done some research on this. In 2015 there was a strong movement to restore these works, most of which were created in the 90s of the last century.
They arose as a result of the fraternity between the Berlin-Cuba Friendship Association and the Farbfieber Association of Düsseldorf, Germany.
Perhaps the people of Pinar del Río observe them and are observed by these walls with total normality, because they are so everyday... They are there in the middle of everything and at the same time in the middle of nothing (how I like this phrase). Then perhaps, I was saying, they will not look at them with the fascination with which a visitor would look at them. Trying to find meanings in art, investigating why there is a color and a figure here or a feeling and a brushstroke there.
In my little research I have found some clues, however, I would like to go back and have an expert guide to help me understand them better.
In a previous post I took a motorcycle tour that led me to this mural, titled "A chant of love". That publication was not focused on the mural, but on a journey with my best friend, which I accompanied with music, and curiously when I look at it today through time, that experience was a chant of love as well.
This mural is located in the Orlando Nodarse soft drink factory. Germans, Brazilians and Cubans worked together in its making and another coincidence: in that post I included a song by Chico Buarke, my friend perhaps knew that the Carioca imprint was present in those paintings, but she didn't tell me. I just discovered this today.
{Details of the Mural}
I quote you what I wrote there:
When I think of my friend and the music, I immediately remember that she loves Brazilian sonorities. Ever since we were in college she has been like that. I'm not saying she doesn't like other genres, but Bossa Nova, I know she is fascinated by it. I asked her: Li, what music do you think goes here in that sticky situation where I squeeze you around the waist so I don't fall? And she answered me: Samba e amor, by Chico Buarque? 🤣
I always think a lot about everything and the explanation I can give in this case is that there are messages that our subconscious perceives, and then we return in actions or moods. Do you think so?
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This mural is titled "My City" and was created entirely by women in 1996. I learned their names from a newspaper clipping from when it was restored. But in one of the images that I'll show you below is that precise information.
On February 18, 2014, this mural had already been completely restored and the press took it upon themselves to spread the news. And this was the starting point for the restoration of the other murals.
You can read there in that link, but it is clearly possible to perceive that it is made to highlight the different moments that are lived in this city, with women as the protagonist and also show the wonderful landscapes and emblematic places of Pinar del Río, such as, for example, the mogotes of Viñales, the tobacco meadows, The woman making art, painting a mural. This is very interesting, because we see the mural and within it the process of its conception.
I liked this work so much that I focused on its details.
Another mural that I really liked is next to the Loynaz Brothers Book and Literature Development Center. In these images I see fracture, but also anchors that could be familiar, or of love for the land where one is born. A paper boat that denotes fragility, towards the unknown. References to sutured wounds, a tightrope walker. These are my own appreciations, where I observe a close panorama that all the souls of this island have been living for quite some time now.
Only in this area, in the surroundings of the Independence Park, it is possible to admire several murals, including this one I just told you about.
This one, which shows our national hero José Martí, is titled "Connection". I think it draws attention to the dangers of receiving distorted information in the digital age.
A little further on is another painted wall entitled "Protection". This one is a bit weird to me. I can't quite determine his message. Art sometimes puts us in a bind when it comes to discernment. If anyone has an explanation for this one, I would appreciate it.
😯
To visit the last mural of the day, my friend (who is an excellent tour guide) and I had to leave Independence Park and go to Columbus Park.
I don't know if there is such a tour already established for visitors. But it's not a bad idea, right? My friend before seeing the next one recommended me to enjoy a snack at Café Shop Jarachó. It is very close to here.
It is a place where you can breathe art. That's what I told her when I entered, which came in handy with the tour she was giving me around the city to photograph its murals.
We ordered tea and a Tres Leches cake with lots of meringue.
There are many other murals throughout the city. But we went to the one in Columbus Park, which is one of my favorites for its magical-religious references.
"I Have Faith in Destiny" is its title. And in it you can see many figures related to our Afro-Cuban roots and their beliefs.
The mural is very curious and we can obtain many readings from it.
I see many cultural references and always that need to see the sea that embraces us as an island in a very symbolic way, perhaps a point of departure or farewell.
A dove of peace? A myth of revolt? William Tell and the apple on the head? Maybe.
Our Hatuey, an Indian Cacique who rebelled against the Spanish colonizers... was also a brand of national beer. But we do not see him here in a position of rebellion.
{These are just some of my thoughts. From this mind that never stops thinking... sometimes I have to put a brake on it.
Anyway, I also have faith in destiny. }
I hope you enjoyed this visit to the City of Pinar del Rio, through its murals.
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