Requiem (Plegaria) (2019–2022)

For Cubans the sea represents a double isolation, geographic as well as political. To this day people are not free to leave the island country, which has been embroiled in an ideological struggle with its powerful neighbour, the U.S., for more than 60 years. Thousands of Cubans have died trying to cross the relatively short stretch of sea that separates the island from the coast of Florida in precarious, overcrowded vessels. Hence, a seascape can also be understood as the barrier that keeps people imprisoned against their will; choppy waters becoming the ominous image of a graveyard.

'In 2019, during my first solo exhibition in Italy, I was deeply impacted by two things: The first was the art of museums and churches with their stunning frescoes and altars; the second was the migratory drama and the human conflict that surrounded the Mediterranean sea at that time. The same day I returned from visiting the Uffizi gallery I was watching the news on TV about the suffering of migrants and the ecological conflict Europe is facing. I could not help but perceive many analogies with what we have experienced in the Caribbean, expanding my analysis towards a panorama of more universal and global problems.'—Yoan Capote