Calcutta News.Net
Saturday 25th July, 2009 (IANS)
A month-long exhibition of paintings by eminent Cuban novelist,
dramatist and artist Severo Sarduy brought to the capital by the Spanish
embassy Saturday has ruffled the Cuban government, which alleges that
the exhibition is 'launching a veiled attack on Cuba through its catalogue'.
Cuban Ambassador to India Miguel Angel Ramirez Ramos protested the
'contents in the catalogue which touched upon of the humiliation
writer-painter Sarduy suffered under the totalitarian regime in Cuba'.
'I am very unhappy with a section of the content in the catalogue with
references to the humiliation that Sarduy suffered under the
totalitarian regime in Cuba. It is a veiled attack on Cuba,' Ramos said
at a press conference at the Instituto Cervantes where the exhibition
'El Oriente de Severo Sarduy' was inaugurated.
'The catalogue says Sarduy suffered humiliation at the hands of the
totalitarian Cuban government...which is why he spent most of his life
outside Cuba,' Ramos translated the catalogue as saying.
Sarduy, who was born in Camaguey in Cuba in 1937, spent half of his
early life in Cuba, several decades in Paris and travelled extensively
in India, Bhutan, Nepal and China, where he was deeply influenced by
Taoism and Buddhism. Sarduy was known for his pre-occupation with
African and Chinese presence in Cuba. He died in 1993.
The Cuban ambassador's remarks were directed at noted Venezuelan writer
and editor of almost all of Sarduy's collected works, Gustavo Guerrero,
who co-curated the show along with Latin American literature expert
Catalina Quesada from Paris and S.P. Ganguly from the Centre of Spanish
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
The exhibition comprises rare photographs by Sarduy, who was inspired by
the sights and sounds of Varanasi, Indian textiles and Mahayana Buddhism
practised in the Himalayas in his art works.
'Mr. Ambassador, the time for such games is over. The text for the
catalogue was written by a Mexican professor and we cannot censor the
text,' Gustavo Guerrero told the Cuban envoy.
Sarduy was inspired to visit India after a meeting with Mexican writer
Octavio Paz in 1968, who served in India as an ambassador. The Cuban
origin artist-writer was so much in love with Indian culture that at a
point in time he contemplated making India his home.
Cuba accuses Spain of 'veiled attack' through Delhi art show (25 July 2009)
http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/523207
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