'Choco' from Cuba

This popular artist grants protagonism to the people, as they are the source of his artworks and muses. And like society, his art also experiences latently any obstacle to its progress.

He recalled in an interview with Cuba Internacional that in the 1980s, a period marked by a national economic crisis, he worked with wastes, elements that he found in the city.

Thanks to that, Choco developed the technique that is currently known as colagraphy, which is based on replacing the matrixes usually used for engraving with others made with common raw materials.

For several years, Choco has taught courses and workshops on this procedure in universities in Spain, Japan, Mexico and the United States. In the latter, not by chance, he shared his knowledge for the last time in 2016.

The influence of the economic blockade imposed by the Government of the United States on Cuba is present in all sectors of life.

About that incidence, Choco said, 'They have closed the possibility of participating in several exhibitions in Europe or staging artistic performances due to the measures taken by the Department of Treasury'.

'However, we artists have to be increasingly aware that we do not have borders, that we can pave the way like Elegguá (one of seven deities in the Yoruba Pantheon), that we can influence the audience favorably and that we can clarify the mentality of people whom Washington has kept blind for many years'.