Like all big cities, Havana is not just its buildings and avenues, its parks and official monuments.
It is also its people, with their experiences and feelings, with their culture and idiosyncrasies, with their popular creations.
To confirm this, just walk through its streets, retrace its neighborhoods and places, discover around any corner a picturesque mural or a furtive graffiti that also gives life to the city.
The murals and graffiti of the Cuban capital can be as curious and varied as the people of Havana themselves.
There are striking and colorful ones, large format and original ones, and also small and cryptic ones, almost indecipherable for the viewer.
Their strength can be in their images, in their designs, in their contrasts. Or also in the forcefulness of their message, of their representation.
Some become authentic works of art; others, just a phrase, or a signature; a minimalist statement on a wall or even an official fence.
The murals and graffiti of Havana have their followers and scholars, as well as their critics and indifferent people. Like everything or almost everything in the world.
And they have, logically, their authors, new or experienced, anonymous or well-known, always willing to continue leaving their graphic mark on the city they live or visit.
They can be in a building in ruins or a wall in good condition; next to an overflowing garbage dump or next to an official institution. But, beyond their place, and their support, these paintings have a life of their own.
Last week we showed a group of Havana murals and graffiti captured by the lens of our photojournalist Otmaro Rodríguez. With this new installment, we complete a series that, through photography, discovers lesser-known faces of Havana.
Author
OnCuba Staff
