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Go forward: the biggest challenge

The Avenida del Puerto now looks more adorned thanks to the art of the artist Martha Jimenez. A monumental sculpture stands just near the old Church of Paula; a great tricycle that symbolizes the journey through life. The title, very well chosen: "Against wind and tide".

As part of the 13th Havana Biennial, the official inauguration of this work was held on the morning of this Monday, May 6 - which is part of the series “With the house in the back” -, which featured the words of the Doctor Eusebio Leal Spengler, Historian of the City of Havana.

"It is a pride for us to see Martha's work finished, imagined, dreamed and that walking around the house is a philosophical, artistic reflection that leaves us as a legacy", said Leal Spengler, who said that the piece establishes a beautiful comparison with the Church of Paula, musical center of excellence, "on the footprint of what intellectuals and previous artists performed there".

In an environment defended by great intellectuals for its great heritage values ??-among them Doctor Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring-, comes Martha Jimenez with this gadget that allows us, like her, to go through time, said Leal: “Go in this immense cycle, carrying our own house that is to carry our dreams, our faith, our aspirations; everything good and noble, fighting against the difficulties imposed by the wind, walking, going forward which is, in short, the greatest challenge”.

Surrounded by artists and friends such as Eduardo Roca Salazar (Choco) and Flora Fong, among others, Jimenez dedicated the work especially to the Historian of the City and gave it permanently to Havana for its half-millennium. "It is a gift from all Camagueyans to Cuba and the capital, and will remain here, symbolizing women and life in general", said the artist.

Thanks also from the creator to the team of Bauta who worked intensely in the conformation of the work, which represents a load of love, light, struggle and, fundamentally, the work of the woman who is often overshadowed, but that always guides, said Jimenez.

“I have used the tricycle in other sculptures. In another country I made a similar piece. Here in Cuba I had never done it. In a way, Eusebio Leal challenged me to erect it here in this environment, and I told him that of course, that everything was possible with determination, and here is the large format piece, 7, 5 meters high and made of steel, all sheet material”, said Martha Jimenez to Radio Havana.

Now, a new sculpture, major and superior -as qualified by Doctor Leal Spengler-, of a great potter and artist in general, adorns Havana when there is very little left to reach the 500th anniversary of its foundation. A contribution to a city that continues to make everyone fall in love, despite its centuries of existence.

 


Author: Yoel Lugones Vazquez
Photo: Alexis Rodriguez
Source: http://www.habanaradio.cu