Cuba Introspettiva: Contemporary Cuban Art at La Nuova Pesa, Rome

The exhibition 'Cuba introspettiva' at Galleria La Nuova Pesa in Rome presents a survey of contemporary Cuban art from 1980 to the present, curated by Giacomo Zaza, who previously co-curated the Cuba Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2013 and 2015. Rather than focusing on political artivists, Zaza emphasizes the intimate and personal aspects of artists across generations. The show includes photography, installations, video, and drawings that explore personal experience as a lens into social fabric, censorship, and rebirth. Featured artists include Grethell Rasúa, whose visceral video shows her licking a cactus and whose jewelry incorporates bodily fluids; Glenda León, whose video 'Inversión II' subverts the meaning of money by shaving a banknote and inserting the dust into a coca leaf; Tonel (Antonio Eligio Fernández), with works referencing 1960s countercultural comics and Antonio Gramsci; Javier Castro, whose video addresses social outcasts; Levi Orta, who critiques hegemonic control; the duo Celia-Yunior, examining Cuba's economy; Luis Gómez Armenteros, focusing on power relations in art; Glexis Novoa, with silhouettes depicting Black suffering; and Lázaro Saavedra, whose videos highlight socio-political violence. The finissage includes a poetry reading curated by Carmen Lorenzetti and Giacomo Zaza, featuring poets such as Omar Perez (son of Che Guevara) and Yornel Martínez Elías, who collaborated with Glenda León on a 2015 Havana Biennale installation.