January 22: Art and Africa on Tuesday

Lauryn Davin

After a morning of independent planning and study, our group headed to Old Havana to visit Casa de Africa. Having participated in a lecture on Race relations the day before, our group was eager to learn more about African traditions and culture, and their incorporation into the makeup and identity of Cuban society.

Our museum guide was patient and knowledgeable and spoke in great detail about the importance of oral tradition, story-telling, and religion for the African people who had been brought to Cuba as slaves during the 16th Century.

Our time at Casa de Africa was followed with a visit to Callejón de Hamel; an alleyway full of street art by famous painter and muralist, Salvador González. This is also the location of Salvador’s home, of which we were given an exploratory tour, and overview of Santeria and the significant role it plays in Afro-Cuban artwork and lifestyle.

During our visit, we had a Q&A session with Salvador, who seemed delighted by the questions posed by our group and gave thoughtful and humorous answers. We were even able to convince him to take a group photo with us!