Silenced Voices: Artists Defying Repression
Freedom House joins partners in hosting an immersive art gallery experience featuring the work of artists and human rights defenders from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
Date
September 18
– 19, 2023
Location
Blue Gallery, 222E 46th St, New York
Register
Freedom House and partners present a special art exhibit and series of events highlighting political prisoners and victims of repression in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The program will include traditional and multimedia art pieces and performances that capture different viewpoints on political imprisonment, infringed fundamental freedoms, and human rights violations in each of the countries. The program will also include a panel discussion on women defying authoritarianism, repression, and torture followed by a closing reception. Note: these events will be held in Spanish.
Events
Silenced Voices Art Exhibit
- September 18 l 12:00 to 3:30 pm
- September 19 l 10:00 to 2:00 pm
Featuring the work of notable artists and human rights defenders including Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara (Cuba), Rosalia Miller (Nicaragua), and Victor Navarro (Venezuela). Throughout the exhibit, the documentaries will also be shown in the theater space of the gallery every hour on a loop
September 18, 2023
Panel: Unveiling Her Story: Women Defying Repression (Revelando su historia: Mujeres desafiando la represión)
- 4:00 pm - 5:30pm
The panel will focus on the courageous journeys of women defying authoritarianism, repression, and torture in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Through the lens of personal experience, this discussion will shed light on the challenges faced by women including political prisoners, survivors of torture and persecution, and the families affected by unthinkable loss.
Closing Reception
- 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
The reception will include a poetry reading and discussion by academic and poet Nicasio Urbina (Nicaragua), virtual participation of Gioconda Belli (Nicaragua), and an artistic performance by El B, member of Cuban rap duo "Los Aldeanos." Our MC will be Cuban artist Yesenia Selier as the character "Cosmic Exu."
September 19, 2023
SOS Cuba documentary, Umbrella Foundation
- 12:00 pm
Filmed in Cuba, this mini documentary shows the fierce reality of the July 11, 2021 protests and spotlights the living testimonies of female relatives of political prisoners in Cuba.
Presentation of the Pocket Calendar corresponding to the artwork Charcoal Portrait of Schrödinger's Cat by the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara.
- 12:20 pm
The pocket calendar is part of the work done by an artist from prison, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. The calendar represents each day the artist has spent unjustly in prison.
Moderator: Claudia Genlui
Special Guests: Anamely Ramos y María de Lourdes Meriño
Documentary: Free by Right, Mesa de Diálogo de la Juventud Cubana
- 1:15 pm
In 2023, nearly two years after Island-wide protests were met with a brutal crackdown of forces by the Cuban government, 18 Cuban urban artists transformed their personal experiences and conversations with relatives of political prisoners to create street art, murals and other public displays of artwork across Havana. These artists spent countless hours listening to the stories of resilience, injustice, pain, and grief. On display in New York will be a special screening of the documentary, Free by Right, showing how the human spirit refuses to surrender until justice is found for the hundreds of political prisoners that remain in Cuba.
Free Them All: A Political Prisoners Initiative
Free Them All: A Political Prisoners Initiative is a Freedom House project intended to help free political prisoners and push back against the jailing of activists as a tool of repression. Located around the globe, the stories of these artists, journalists, and activists illustrate the significant pressures and harms that human rights defenders and pro-democracy activists face in reprisal for their work and why they need our support.