• Submitted by: admin
• Culture and Traditions
• Paint and Sculpture
• 07 / 18 / 2010

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The artist Natalia Bolívar invites us to learn about the wonderful world of Afro-Cuban religion with her exhibition De Camerún a La Habana. Sociedad Secreta Abakuá (From Cameroon to Havana. Abakuá Secret Society), inaugurated last Saturday in the Casa de África from the Historical Center.

Those who may assist to the exhibition may understand, through the oil canvasses, a little more of the mystic universe of the Abakuá Secret Society. The creator offers us a tour around the history of this culture.

Each painting includes an explanation of what is being represented, which contributes to people understanding who is that character and its meaning within the Abakuá religion, apart from its rites. In her work Destierro we may observe the suffering of the members of this African ethnic group, who were taken to Cuba with inhuman conditions and were turned into slaves.

The exhibition is dedicated to Fernando Ortiz, who is considered by many as the most important anthropologist and ethnologist in our country. An excellent way to pay tribute to the third discover of Cuba, since precisely on this week, on July 16, is celebrated the 129th anniversary of his birth.

In each and every painting people might appreciate the detailed research undertaken by Natalia Bolívar. In them there is brought together the study of this religion, the result of a deep knowledge. Through color and her precision with the brush, she takes us to the psychology of the represented characters and their histories. She invites us to reflect, admire and also to respect the imprints of that past history which is still fascinating and mysterious.

The day on the Casa de África could not end better, since those who visited the exhibition could also enjoy the music and dance of the Obiní Batá group, in the Cheketé, an artistic-cultural space, which is organized by this institution on the second Saturday every month.

Translation: Karen López (Cubarte)

Source:  Cultural Heritage Direction | 17 de Julio 2010