ast April, Miami artist Xavier Cortada completed a circle in his
life when he made his second visit to Cuba.
Cortada accompanied his father to his hometown of Nuevitas, a fishing village in
northern Cuba. It was there father and son witnessed a Sunday Mass that was standing room
only. It was also the only place they saw hope in Cuba.
"The church itself was in disrepair, it needed help and an infusion of cash,"
he said. "But what was in those pews resonated with energy. It gave me hope for an
island that has been stripped of its morality for 40 years."
In 1993, Cortada made a career change when he left his teaching position at a Miami
university to dedicate himself to art. But the 36-year-old Cuban-American also underwent a
spiritual change three years ago this month when he joined a Florida pilgrimage to join
Pope John Paul II at his closing Mass in Havana.
"I would not have visited the island except because the pope was going, that was
my ticket," said Cortada, who grew up in Miamis Little Havana and attended Gesu
School in downtown Miami.
"The impact of the popes visit was it gave me personal invitation to travel
to Cuba, and it also gave Cubans (in Cuba) the invitation to carry their banners in the
plaza in what at that time was the popes plaza."
The Latin American Art Museum in Miami featured Cortadas impressions of the papal
visit to Cuba in an exhibit, "No Tengan Miedo (Have No Fear), which concluded Jan.
27. It can also be seen on-line.
The exhibit which takes its name from the popes remarks about Cuba
featured works created immediately after the artists first visit to the his
parents homeland during the 8-hour charter trip sponsored by the Florida bishops. It
was organized for the closing of the papal visit Jan. 21-25, 1998.
Have No Fear consisted of paintings Cortadas traditional medium as
well as conceptual pieces featuring objects which capture what Cortada sees as the
"tragedy of Cuba." They include course, raw, rusted, dangerous items such as
blades, scissors and metal wiring.
The former faculty member at the University of Miami Dept of Psychiatry and director of
the Juvenile Violence and Delinquency Prevention program there, said he thought it was
appropriate to look back on the papal visit to Cuba and consider its impact on Cuba
and Cubans in the diaspora.
"I think the pope created these small places for people to be able to begin
rebuilding Cuba and through a re-encounter with God," said Cortada, whose work of
religious imagery was the subject of an exhibit last year at Miamis St. Thomas
University.
"It used to be that prior to the popes visit, you would only assemble (in
Cuba) for state reasons, to go to the mandatory rallies of Fidel," he said.
"After the popes visit, there was a spiritual reason to gather, and you
begin to build a civil society and that is the legacy of the pope in Cuba."
Cortada was not just moved externally by the Cuba pilgrimage. The trip facilitated a
rediscovery of his religious roots. His own concept of Cuba was already intertwined with
Catholicism because of his upbringing. But through the years, Cortada said, especially
while a college student, he experienced a disconnect.
"It was a beautiful experience in Havana in 1998 where the pope gave me permission
to be there. He gave (me) a connection, so as an adult in Nuevitas I could literally shake
hands with the people I used to write letters to as a kid."
Cortadas on-line bio says he works primarily in acrylic and oils on canvas, and
has created numerous murals and has a large portfolio of drawings.
With both his father and uncle practitioners of art, Cortada comes in part from the
tradition of Cuban modernism. His work is also influenced by the modern world,
advertising, the iconography of estampitas religiosas (saint or prayer cards), TV
cartoons, his travels, and, he points out, the stained glass windows of Gesu Catholic
Church in Miami.
If the popes words, "Have No Fear," had an impact on Cortada
personally; it also served as a stepping stone for the artist to take a chance and
experiment artistically with conceptual art.
One, called "Revolution," is a toilet plunger on wheels. Another, "Faith
Fuse Box," show a device comprised of electrical extension cord plugged into a set of
novena candles. In an island where not much culture, material or structural society exists
the only thing people can plug into is faith, Cortada points out.
"Each of us have a different way of communicating with God, but the idea is if you
are in Cuba and you want something, it is through faith."
Cortadas art work owes its roots to the need to communicate across borders,
cultures. After passing the bar, the Floridian joined the University of Miami faculty and
held a heavy schedule of speaking engagements in Latin America and Africa on juvenile
justice matters.
During a visit to children at a South African village in 1994, Cortada found he
couldnt speak their language. "So I did a lot of drawing for the kids and they
started drawing back. I realized art was the universal language I could use to communicate
with others."
By 1997, Cortada was a full time artist with international artistic and humanitarian
credentials. The U.S. State Department recently presented him with their Millennium
International Volunteer Award for his work with children in Latin America in Africa.
In February, he was invited to attend the Jubilee Day for Artists at the Vatican. He
was one of only 600 artists and cultural figures invited from around the world for the
celebration. While there, Cortada prayed from the Bernini papal altar during the Mass.
Currently, Cortada is focused on studio-based artistic projects, including a stations
of the cross-inspired series about Cuba. The first of the 14 large canvases he painted
(XII Paredon) was exhibited in "Have No Fear" and references the execution of
political prisoners during the early days of the Cuban revolution.
In his piece, "El Semillero: Libertad 53-Embargo One," Cortada puts the
political question of the U.S. embargo against Cuba into perspective as it related to the
papal visit.
Describing himself as a kind of moderate on the question of Cuba and foreign policy,
Cortada points out some in the Cuban-American community remain critical of the pope for
calling for an end of the embargo.
"It is one of those hot-button topics that completely precludes the
discussion," he said. "For those people who want to block out what the pope said
with the embargo should remember this: He said the word embargo once, and liberty 53
times."
From the vantage point of three years later, Cortada believes the popes visit to
Cuba accomplished much. He blessed, validated the people in Cuba, and those who wanted to
visit the island for the first time.
"He said, If I can come to this island, so can my flock. After the
kind of opening that has happened, it changed the paradigm. That is what this exhibit
tries to convey."