“Utopia and the sea”: A reflection by Sonia Cunliffe and Liudmila & Nelson on the migratory crises

Multidisciplinary artists Sonia Cunliffe and Liudmila & Nelson present a moving exhibition that fuses four works to reflect on the history of Cuba and its fight for freedom through the experiences of immigrants. The sample, called “Utopia and the sea”will be open to the public from October 13 at the Now gallery in San Isidro.

“The truth that is hidden in all these stories that we show and that look like a diamond, since it has multiple faces, many truths, they are all true and they are all false at the same time, depending on who sees that diamond”, comments the artist Nelson Ramírez de Arellano in an interview with El Comercio.

In the exhibition, we can see works by Cunliffe such as “Operation Peter Pan. From absence to absence”, which combines images of anti-communist propaganda to show an unusual event: the transfer of thousands of Cuban children to the United States, who were unable to reunite. with his Cuban parents. There is also “Alegato,” an installation that presents a book by Fidel Castro in braille and a blind man interpreting it in sign language on a screen.

As a foreign contribution, the exhibition features the work “The Great Wave” by Cuban artists Liudmila & Nelson. In an installation 4 meters long, 126 cm high and 466 cm wide, they represent the waves of the Caribbean Sea that immigrants, both legal and illegal, crossed on their way to the northern tip of Key West, Miami. In addition to presenting “Absolut revolution (azul)”, fragments of Fidel Castro’s book that contains the presentation that Fidel Castro gave before the court that was trying him for the assault on the Moncada barracks.

global phenomenon

To encompass all the artists’ works in a single exhibition, the migratory processes of large populations throughout Cuban and world history are the starting point. “Migration is something that is always present in everyone’s life and can be an avalanche that destroys entire towns and cultures”mentions Ramírez de Arellano.

The exhibition seeks to show this type of phenomena as part of a reality that is not new and that seems to have no end. “Here, the role of the artist is not to be a complainant or an informant, but rather a reflector. We seek to generate a commotion in the public that leads them to reflect on the things that happen around the world.”Cunliffe emphasizes.

“Utopia and the Sea” invites us to carefully appreciate the common challenges, which often go unnoticed, in the search for a better life, especially in a world where borders seem to blur for millions of human beings. “In Peru we have always experienced it, with the arrival of Chinese, Japanese, Italians and now Venezuelans. We must look at the world we live in and understand why someone leaves the place they love.concludes Cunliffe.