Exhibition brings together Caribbean women artists in Havana

"Breaking with Traditions Isn't Free" is the title of a collective exhibition that brings together 17 Caribbean women artists at the Universal Art Building of the National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA) in Havana.

The exhibition, which features over 20 works by women artists from ten Caribbean countries, confirms the importance the Havana Biennial has granted to developing visual arts in the region, as part of its 15th edition’s program.

The collective exhibition by Caribbean women artists make up what I define as an advanced sensibility in contemporary art in the region,” Jose Manuel Noseda, curator of the exhibit, along with MNBA Director Jorge Fernandez Torres, stated.

Although the exhibition is an approach that starts with gender issues, Noseda explained that it does not stop there; they address personal issues, race, authority, historical memory, coloniality, and its effects on the territories.

Barbara Prezeau (Haiti), Jaime Lee Loy (Trinidad and Tobago), La Vaughn Belle (US Virgin Islands), Guy Gabon (Guadeloupe), Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Belkis Ayon Manso, and Lisandra Ramirez Bernal (Cuba) are some of the women artists showing their artworks in Havana.

Inaugurated in November 2024, “Breaking with Traditions Isn’t Free” is sponsored by the Havana-based Regional Bureau for Culture of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and will remain open at National Museum of Fine Arts until February.