I wrote this whole report for RUGGED Magazine – ©Carhartt Europe //Work in Progress //Nord31
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CUBA IS A LITTLE CROCODILE-SHAPED ISLAND in the Caribbean Sea.
Trapped between Florida and Jamaica, the Bahamas and Haiti, the island offers rum, cigars and a whole lot of love on top of an azure-blue sea and ample sunshine.

But Cuba also stands for slavery, racism, revolution and bloody battles. Despite being such a small part of the world, Cuba has been through more than its fair share of misery and is certainly going to see some more. Guantanamo Bay and an aged dictator, a psychotic climate and a Big Brother state that controls and restricts its people in spite of defunct technology and infrastructure – Cuba stands for all of the above. If you go to Venezuela you find Burger King and McDonald’s on every street corner and everyone’s on crack. In Cuba, there are no drugs or advertisements, apart from the omnipresent hand-painted propaganda posters celebrating the revolution and its leaders.

Propaganda and censorship determine every day. Free-thinkers, like artists for example, have it particularly hard. For them, the image of the boat has become a symbol of freedom, since there are no boats in Cuba. Because of the trade embargo against Cuba all products and commodities are rare.

Even in the capital Havana it’s difficult for a painter to buy a simple brush.
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» Passers-by stopped to say thank you for bringing colour into their dull quarter.
The people in Cuba don’t even have paint for their house numbers.«
3 2 A K

The name “Cuba” comes from the Taíno language and though the exact meaning is unclear, it may be translated either as “where fertile land is abundant” (cubao), or as “great place” (coabana). Additionally, there is the claim that native inhabitants called the island “Cubagua” in the Columbus era starting in 1542.

Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean at the confluence of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Cuba is south of the eastern United States and The Bahamas, west of the Turks and Caicos Islands and Haiti, east of Mexico and north of the Cayman Islands and Jamaica.

Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country’s capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is the most populous insular nation in the Caribbean. Its people, culture, and customs draw from diverse sources, including the aboriginal Taíno and Ciboney peoples; the period of Spanish colonialism; the introduction of African slaves; and its proximity to the United States.

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» I have never before seen a little girl just coming up and kissing a 32ak’s character affectionately on the mouth.
What’s the use of being represented in the most important museums?
Something like this is makes the work much more worthwhile.«
W O N A B C

An orange Adventure:
Zombielove is a project by WONabc, SHAMEabc & MYLANder. They performed in Cuba with orange Guantanamo Bay Overalls and got arrested 3 times in only one week by the cuban’s secret-police.
Interrogated by their Propaganda Experts.
It was filmed for a next level Zombie Movie. Watch it at Cinemas soon!
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Lying Baron “Surfhousen” dashes through the wormhole.
He breaks a fly on the wheel.
[Pirates crackerjack in Habana /Cuba]

I left Havana by taxi. About one hour to all directions out of town…
I instructed the driver to slow down whenever we pass a propaganda signboard aside the road – to photograph it.
I did some fotos – browse some of the most representative and interrestic ones!
They are all handpainted. These ones highlight health, education, socialism, the embargo and other topics.
Commercial Advertizing doesn’t exist in Cuba at all.
It’s interesting to see how much spiritedness is invested by artists and government for those few people passing the highways. Propaganda is a part of our life and human history. Don’t get confused ’bout it!

CubaBrasil is a German-Serbian-Brasilian-Cuban co-project, founded by Carlito Stone two years ago.
Urban art and graffiti are coming together to form an all new category at the biennial in Havana.
WWW.CUBABRASIL.NET

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The 2nd Cuban Crisis: TRIPPIN’ IN HAVANA [06/2006] is a post from: