- from the series Aguas baldías
- from the series Water Wastelands
Sheet: 10 15/16 × 13 7/8 in. (27.8 × 35.2 cm)
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Manuel Piña’s series taken along Havana’s seawall was made during a time of crisis in Cuba following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the loss of its economic support. If the vastness of the ocean embodied the revolution’s utopian promise, for Piña, it was also a barricade confining Cuba’s inhabitants
to the island in economic and political isolation. In this image, a hand playfully pulling a thread from the distant horizon shrinks waters that would otherwise appear infinite and suggests the possibility of migration. Tens of thousands of Cubans would attempt the crossing to Florida aboard makeshift rafts in the early 1990s.
Manuel Piña creó esta serie durante la crisis provocada en Cuba por el colapso de la Unión Soviética y la pér- dida de su apoyo económico. Tomadas en el malecón de La Habana, las imágenes muestran la inmensidad del océano que, si bien podría simbolizar la promesa utópica de la revolución, también representa una barrera que confina a los cubanos en la isla, en aislamiento económico y político. En esta foto, una mano tira de un hilo que se pierde en el horizonte, acortando las aguas y sugiriendo la posibilidad de migración. A principios de los 90, decenas de miles intentaron cruzar a la Florida en balsas improvisadas.
ProvenanceThe artist; purchased by MFAH, 1994.
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