La mujer en la ventana (The Lady In The Window)
Cuba Series - Painting #19June 2017
36" x 48" - Acrylic on canvas
It seems as if Cuba is always on the precipice of change. Any bit of news can potentially have widesweeping ramifications for their way of life. Perceptions of personal momentum can swing wildly with rumors of US policy changes or whispers of loosening (or tightening) of Cuban governmental regulations on its citizens. To "resolver" (resolve) or "consiguir" (acquire) is the modus operandi of the Cuban people. Some people have the good fortune of remittences to supplement their meager salaries, but for those without outside family to help - they must fend for themselves.
During my travels throughout the country, I got the sense that many Cubans live their lives in doorways and windowsills. Walk any street and the populace seems to be spilling out from their respective homes, watching the world go by. Perhaps they are merely passing the time or trying to cool off in the tropic heat, but my sense is that often times they are waiting - waiting for that elusive "something" that lifts them from the mire of the past 60 years of political confusion and paves a clear path for them to make due for themselves.
While walking the streets of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba's second largest city, I spotted this woman peering out her window. I chose to depict her as a way to illustrate that feeling of waiting... waiting for other forces to work themselves out so that the people can at last have a resolution to the years of longing and finally experience this so called "change" that seems to never come.
