The San Isidro movement, MSI and the 27N group were voted among the most influential movements of the year 2022 by the British magazine ArtReview.
The magazine published a list in which it placed Cuban groups at number 67. The same selection includes film and television director Steve McQueen, philosopher Judith Butler and artist Ai Weiwei.
Magazine reviews devoted to the groups emphasize the many Cuban artists who have remained influential despite being in prison, at the hands of the Castro regime, and others in exile.
The publication states, “Power takes strange forms and on the face of it, imprisonment and exile should leave a man powerless.”
“Repression at the hands of Cuban artists such as Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and Hamlet Lavastida has catalyzed collective action.”
ArtReview magazine’s article reminds that since 2018, when the regime decided to silence the artists through a law, Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara was the most recognized figure in the MSI.
“When in 2018 Havana officials announced a new law aimed at silencing the artists, Decree 349, Alcantara became the most visible figure of the San Isidro movement, named after a neighborhood in the city Is. For this reason, he has been persecuted on several occasions, and this year he was sentenced to five years in prison for ‘insulting national symbols’, having been on hunger strike in prison without trial. ArtReview expressed regret.
The magazine highlights that Otero Alcantara is jailed for his actions with the national flag.
The magazine highlighted, “Although Alcantara is one of more than 700 people currently imprisoned for his protests, 27N Collective member Hamlet Lavastida is one of many who now live outside the country.”
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