Arts
fromCurbed
6 days agoThe Cuban House of Spirits
José Parlá and Claudia Hilda live in a renovated Fort Greene firehouse blending Cuban memory, art, religion, and creative workspaces.
they won't sit with novices or enthusiastic tourists visiting Calle Ocho, the heart of the disapora in Miami, to admire the nostalgic murals of Cuban exile, but rather be able to play one-on-one with their own kind, those who know Little Havana, people who left Cuba and helped build a city on the swamp that was Miami, who spend long hours thinking about what a return would be like and who never stop talking about politics.
In 1954, the Cuban ethnographer Lydia Cabrera published " El Monte," a book that committed to paper the hitherto oral history of major Afro-Cuban religious traditions. Its title, which translates roughly to "The Wilderness," refers not only to nature but to the separate, sacred space where, for those who practice Palo Monte and Lucumí-better known as Santería-spirits and deities reside. For decades, the book has informed the art of Cuban nationals and the Cuban diaspora.