| Havana's Damas de Blanco arriving in St. Peter's Square |
José Grave de Peralta
| Toroazul Painting and Fine Arts |
This oil painting of Piazza San Pietro measures over 1 meter high and seems to have been
painted from the air. On March 27, 2012, this work was auctioned in Miami, and the entire
proceeds from the sale went to help the group of pacifist women in Cuba shown here arriving
in St. Peter's Square. In fact, in Cuba these ladies are often physically abused and carried off
in paramilitary buses by government militia brandishing clubs and other hard objects,
when the women make their weekly procession to the church of Santa Rita along Havana's
Fifth Avenue, to voice their wish for freedom.
The subject of the painting, then, is the "dream" arrival (my dream) of this group of
valiant ladies who call themselves Las Damas de Blanco (The Ladies in White) and who
march in this fashion since the early 2000s to protest the incarceration of many of their
husbands or brothers (initially some 75), without fair trial, for various supposed "crimes
against the State." Some of these "crimes" include setting up humble homespun libraries in
various Cuban cities or simply voicing publicly and peacefully their desire for individual
freedoms in the Island.
The ladies usually dress in white and carry a spear of gladioli to express their belief in a
non-violent resolution to the unjust treatment of citizens in Castro's Cuba.
My dream would be that somehow these Ladies in White would be able to march into the
Square of St Peter's one day,headed by a small procession of Cuba's patron, La Virgen de la
Caridad (CLICK here to read about the recent AUCTION of this work)....
Or Click here to see my web site's version of the same article from El NUEVO HERALD
painted from the air. On March 27, 2012, this work was auctioned in Miami, and the entire
proceeds from the sale went to help the group of pacifist women in Cuba shown here arriving
in St. Peter's Square. In fact, in Cuba these ladies are often physically abused and carried off
in paramilitary buses by government militia brandishing clubs and other hard objects,
when the women make their weekly procession to the church of Santa Rita along Havana's
Fifth Avenue, to voice their wish for freedom.
The subject of the painting, then, is the "dream" arrival (my dream) of this group of
valiant ladies who call themselves Las Damas de Blanco (The Ladies in White) and who
march in this fashion since the early 2000s to protest the incarceration of many of their
husbands or brothers (initially some 75), without fair trial, for various supposed "crimes
against the State." Some of these "crimes" include setting up humble homespun libraries in
various Cuban cities or simply voicing publicly and peacefully their desire for individual
freedoms in the Island.
The ladies usually dress in white and carry a spear of gladioli to express their belief in a
non-violent resolution to the unjust treatment of citizens in Castro's Cuba.
My dream would be that somehow these Ladies in White would be able to march into the
Square of St Peter's one day,headed by a small procession of Cuba's patron, La Virgen de la
Caridad (CLICK here to read about the recent AUCTION of this work)....
Or Click here to see my web site's version of the same article from El NUEVO HERALD
In the second painting (horizontal pastel medium) the DAMAS de BLANCO are shown
inside the Vatican collections as they meet with the Pope. One of the ladies and a Franciscan
friar symbolically hold a CHAIN in front of the Pontiff. The scene takes place in the Hall of
the Maps.
This area of the Palace is a grand gallery of geographical, aerial views of all the regions of
Italy, painted in 1571 in the medium of "dry" fresco. At the time, the maps were researched
on foot (there were no hot air balloons then) and painted subsequently for a very progressive
and clear-sighted Pope, Gregory XIII, who in fact gave the world the Gregorian calendar we
now use, A visitor to this famous area of the Vatican today will learn that the 16th-century
maps include even the area of Avignon (France) where the Popes were exiled in the past. So
even though politically Avignon is not in the political or immediate geographical vicinity of
mainland Italy, its history makes the area part of Papal Italy.
The fact that in my painting the Ladies in White "meet" the Pope in front of a map of Cuba
is more than an interpolation. Since its discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1492, Cuba
has been a Catholic nation -- so my idea was to include a map of the island in this
geographical hallway of Vatican lands in order to suggest that our story also belongs there
on some level.
At the top of my Cuba map in the painting, one reads the title: CUBA NOVA, which in
Italian would mean, NEW CUBA. But in Spanish, it could also be read: "Cuba does not
GO" --- it does not move.... This idea of immobility is brought out by the symbolic chain
that the 5 ladies and the friar hold in front of the Pope, not precisely barring his movement
but perhaps inviting him to think about why Cuba itself does not move or go anywhere.
When the first Pope, St. Peter, was held prisoner in a Roman prison shortly before his
eventual death by crucifixion, according to the legends, the Archangel Raphael himself
entered the jail cell at night and liberated Jesus' follower, by breaking the chains that bound
him.
This painting was a challenge for me on many levels, and I often thought that its "message,"
if I may use this word, poses an important question for Cubans about their deeper identity
and their right or obligation to meditate on the country's future in the light of Catholicism.
Surely, the Ladies in White themselves, when they march Havana's streets on their way to
the church of Jesus de Miramar or others, are trying to arrive in St. Peter's with their pleas
for freedom.
inside the Vatican collections as they meet with the Pope. One of the ladies and a Franciscan
friar symbolically hold a CHAIN in front of the Pontiff. The scene takes place in the Hall of
the Maps.
This area of the Palace is a grand gallery of geographical, aerial views of all the regions of
Italy, painted in 1571 in the medium of "dry" fresco. At the time, the maps were researched
on foot (there were no hot air balloons then) and painted subsequently for a very progressive
and clear-sighted Pope, Gregory XIII, who in fact gave the world the Gregorian calendar we
now use, A visitor to this famous area of the Vatican today will learn that the 16th-century
maps include even the area of Avignon (France) where the Popes were exiled in the past. So
even though politically Avignon is not in the political or immediate geographical vicinity of
mainland Italy, its history makes the area part of Papal Italy.
The fact that in my painting the Ladies in White "meet" the Pope in front of a map of Cuba
is more than an interpolation. Since its discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1492, Cuba
has been a Catholic nation -- so my idea was to include a map of the island in this
geographical hallway of Vatican lands in order to suggest that our story also belongs there
on some level.
At the top of my Cuba map in the painting, one reads the title: CUBA NOVA, which in
Italian would mean, NEW CUBA. But in Spanish, it could also be read: "Cuba does not
GO" --- it does not move.... This idea of immobility is brought out by the symbolic chain
that the 5 ladies and the friar hold in front of the Pope, not precisely barring his movement
but perhaps inviting him to think about why Cuba itself does not move or go anywhere.
When the first Pope, St. Peter, was held prisoner in a Roman prison shortly before his
eventual death by crucifixion, according to the legends, the Archangel Raphael himself
entered the jail cell at night and liberated Jesus' follower, by breaking the chains that bound
him.
This painting was a challenge for me on many levels, and I often thought that its "message,"
if I may use this word, poses an important question for Cubans about their deeper identity
and their right or obligation to meditate on the country's future in the light of Catholicism.
Surely, the Ladies in White themselves, when they march Havana's streets on their way to
the church of Jesus de Miramar or others, are trying to arrive in St. Peter's with their pleas
for freedom.
| Close-up detail of the canvas, showing the Ladies as they enter the Piazza |
The Ladies in White arriving in St.Peter's
Square
Private collection
120 cm / 80 cm
2011
Square
Private collection
120 cm / 80 cm
2011
| Saint Peter in Chains: The Ladies in White meet the Pope |
