I just saw a thrilling picture, resulting from an excellent idea. You know about Orlando Zapata Tamayo, the Cuban prisoner of conscience who died in February after an 83-day hunger strike. Yes, 83 days. According to Yoani Sánchez, the famed blogger, Zapata’s death has rallied the opposition on the island. A Cuban-born artist who lives in New Jersey, Geandy Pavón, had the aforementioned excellent idea. He is taking Zapata’s picture and projecting it onto the façades of buildings. Just any buildings? No — buildings in the Free World that contain offices of the Cuban dictatorship. He has done this in New York (the Cuban mission to the U.N.). He has done it in Barcelona (the Cuban consulate there). And, on May 20, he did it in Washington, D.C. May 20 is the anniversary of Cuba’s independence from Spain.
He projected Zapata’s image onto the Cuban Interests Section, at 2630 16th St., N.W. This exercise, as Pavón says, “imposes the face of the victim upon the assassin, using light as an analogy of truth, reason, and justice.” For the picture I saw, go here. It must have been all the more thrilling in person. Usually, I’m opposed to stunts, and especially to stunt art. This, I find righteous and wonderful.
