Today the Cité Internationale des Arts hosted an exhibition by the young Cuban painter Gabriela Pez, who proposes an approach to the identity of African slaves and a challenge to Western beauty stereotypes.
With 11 works, two of which are exhibited outdoors, the artist responds to her inner concern to defend and highlight African heritage as a gift to be worn and shared with pride. This “Open Studio” is the result of six months of work in Paris with the Visual Arts Residency for Cuban Artists awarded by the Bernard Grau Foundation of the French Academy of Fine Arts, a grant awarded for the first time, he commented. to Prensa Latina amidst the hustle and bustle of colleagues and visitors.
According to Pez, his project was the winner because it faced the challenge of combining the candidates’ work with an element of French culture.
In this sense, he explained that the relationship came about through the work of the Guadeloupean writer Maryse Condé, a renowned activist and promoter of the history and culture of Mother Africa. It deals with themes such as slavery, the role of women in the face of the scourge, the traumas of the legacy of colonialism and the problem of racism, which was a source of inspiration for me, as well as Yoruba myths and stories of slaves. For example, he emphasized that the Maroons rebelled against their condition by escaping into the forest.
Black hands holding a white dove, black faces reminding us that beauty is not a geographical or imposed heritage, and spirits camouflaged in the undergrowth, surely having fled from their captors, offer a world of identity that is easy to embrace and was created with talent and sophisticated technology.
As for the format, the young woman turned to watercolor, using industrial paper dyed with coffee.
“I usually use organic paper, which is always a challenge in terms of size, but here I ventured into larger works, so I used industrial paper dyed with coffee to look for nuances,” he said.
Pez considered his stay in Paris very productive as he had the opportunity to interact with renowned curators, experts and colleagues from different parts of the world.
These are doors that are opening, including the possibility of being included in future exhibitions and developing new projects, he added.
In 2022, the Bernard Grau Foundation launched a call for two artists from the island, belonging to the painting and architecture departments of the French Academy of Fine Arts, to travel to France every year to publicize their initiatives. (ALH)
Taken by Latin Press
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