In the first of our 'rock and backpack' series, we discover Havana - the
cultural centre of a Cuba in which everyone has the ability to produce
something, but few express themselves
Welcome to Callejon (Photo: ©Marc Paso Mateu)
A strange mix of mango and gasoline permeates the air. This is the smell
of Havana. The battered and faded facades of its stately buildings
enlarge the decadent shadow in this city of contrasts. Hidden at the
centre of its labyrinthine urban structure are small treasures. The best
of these, without doubt, is the Callejón de Hamel, a polychromatic
enclave in the middle of a grey and lifeless district of Cayo Hueso.
This is the first outdoor mural dedicated to Afro Cuban culture.
Callejon de Hamel (Cuba) - Indianapolis Museum of Art
Mishmash mile
This multifaceted space serves as a channel for all types of artistic
expression. Santeria drawings – Orishas (saints), Nkisis (spirits) and
gods – and existential thought themed fountain pens cover the walls of
this communal passageway.
Sculptural figures escape from the walls giving life to the Niños de
Hamel. According to legend, they enter and leave the street without
being seen; meanwhile they play and amuse themselves with structures
made from recycled materials that clothe the street: Easter eggs hidden
in telephone lines, large old bathtubs that fly overhead, colossal
totems in search of the celestial realm and an omnipresent eye mural
that threatens curious eyes.
The artist creates for their community
At the entrance a stall offers elements of Santeria: seeds, necklaces,
roots and brewed concoctions. This belief in the incarnation of spirits
in nature comes from a combination of the Catholic faith and African
deities, where witchcraft, superstition and rituals meet. From this
magic traveling store we continue on to the Merceditas Valdés
studio-workshop. It is in this sanctuary that Salvador González
Escalona, who is from the central Cuban district of Camagüey, creates
and presents his work.
The artistic vocation of this sculptor and painter –which was fostered
in the Afro Cuban tradition- and his close relation with the human
being, have made him construct, for over twenty years, a reality for the
use and enjoyment of the local community, which he supports with his own
work. 'The objective of my project is to provide creative art for the
town, because it forms part of their own identity,' he tells us. Far
from limiting itself to showrooms, this back alley permits a great many
educational and recreational activities dedicated most of all to young
people. The community organises theatre performances, story telling
presentations, painting workshops and concerts. The main rhythm comes
from the traditional Cuban sounds (boleros, feeling, swing and dances),
that recall times of political unrest and musical splendor.
Community does not equal communism
The philosophical mural in Hamel acquires a new dimension. A difference
that one can appreciate in the revolutionary walls and Cuban facades,
urban art offers for Salvador, a chance to try to display ethical and
historical values, which at the same time, are aesthetic. The situation
of art in Cuba, such as it is at the mercy of the mechanisms of power,
is masked in discursive promises of within the revolution: everything;
against it, no rights. The 'leadership' suspends any intent it may of
have of removing its revolutionary clothing, controlling close to 200
artistic institutions and the subsequent production of their work.
In 1989, this organisation was adopted by 'Projects and Programs' for
cultural development. Then in 1990, the Callejón de Hamel project was
started. This coincided with a moment of crisis in which Cuba was left
even more isolated from the rest of the world, thanks to the dissolution
of the USSR. This initiative, together with El Callejón del Poeta (the
poet's street), La Casa del Niño y la Niña (the boys and girls' house)
and the Taller de Transformación Integral (Workshop for Integral
Transformation), among others, supply artistic and recreational options
that have been lauded as the reason for a decrease in juvenile delinquency.
Hamel, trafficker and hero
In one corner of the mural, an elderly person relates how from an
ancient tale of pirates there was born and formed this tiny artistic
paradise: Fernando B. Hamel, famous Franco-Germanic arms trafficker from
the end of the nineteenth century, after trying to reach Florida, by
chance came upon the northwestern coast of Cuba avoiding the Northern
troops in the USA.
Hamel established himself close to the then-modest population of Havana,
where, little by little he rose to become a respected and prosperous
business man. He established a small foundry and a colony where his
workers – mainly from Africa and China – enjoyed comfortable housing,
something unusual in that time period. Following the crisis of 1929,
Hamel lost everything and disappeared leaving little more of a trace
than the memory of him
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