Artist honors Cuba’s Ladies in White
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Cano’s drawings, on exhibit at the Kelley Roy Gallery in Wynwood, depict the damas, often the target of pro-government mobs, as pious Byzantine figures who wear crowns and long flowing gowns.
One holds a scroll that reads “Liberty.” Another stands atop an upside down globe. A lone one drifts on a raft in the middle of the sea surrounded by sharks, a commanding galleon towering over her.
“Gothic Madonnas,” the artist calls his ladies.
The 50 ink drawings were made on telephone directory pages from Havana and Miami-Dade, white-washed by the artist with a light coat of primer. Some of the drawings were inked on pages from a 1958 Havana telephone directory where Cano found his family and friends listed. He bought the directory at a Little Havana souvenir shop. The drawings on Miami-Dade’s white pages reference the exile community; those that combine Havana and Miami directories symbolize solidarity across the Florida Straits with the Ladies in White.
More details on the exhibit can be found at the Miami Herald.
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